Lunar Tide: Bulge Lag & Orbital Recession (2D)

Earth spins faster than the Moon orbits, so friction drags Earth's tidal bulge a few degrees ahead of the Earth-Moon line rather than letting it point straight at the Moon. That misaligned bulge exerts a torque: it pulls the Moon forward, gradually widening its orbit, while the equal and opposite reaction drags on Earth's rotation, gradually lengthening the day — angular momentum simply moves from Earth's spin into the Moon's orbit. The lag angle self-limits as Earth's spin rate approaches the Moon's orbital rate, so the system settles toward mutual tidal lock, the same end-state that long ago fixed the Moon's rotation to always face Earth. Time is accelerated by billions of times to make a billion-year process watchable in real time.