Home▸Space & Astronomy▸Ocean Tides (2D): Lunar & Solar Tidal Forces

🌊 Ocean Tides (2D): Lunar & Solar Tidal Forces

2D top-down ocean-tides diagram: the same 1/r cubed lunar and solar tidal-force math as the 3D version, with a live tide-gauge chart and spring/neap readout.

Space & Astronomy2DModerate60 FPS📱 Mobile-adapted⇄ 3D version

About this simulation

This 2D companion runs the exact same Newtonian tidal-force math as the 3D version — a_tide = 2GMR/r³ for the Moon and Sun, combined into a bulge amplitude H = a_moon + a_sun·(3cos²θ−1)/2 — but draws it as a flat top-down diagram instead of an orbiting 3D scene, so the ocean bulge, the Moon's orbit and the 30-day tide-gauge chart are all visible at once without needing to rotate a camera.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is this different from the 3D version?

Same physics, same formulas, same tide-gauge chart — only the rendering changes. The 3D version uses a Three.js/WebGL scene; this one draws the identical numbers with plain Canvas2D, which makes the bulge shape and the gauge trace easier to read at a glance.

Why are there two tidal bulges?

The near side of Earth is pulled toward the Moon more strongly than the center is, while the center is pulled more strongly than the far side — that difference stretches the ocean into two opposite bulges, seen here as the blue ellipse.

What causes spring and neap tides?

When the Sun and Moon align (θ≈0° or 180°) their tidal pulls reinforce into a spring tide; near quadrature (θ≈90°) they partly cancel into a smaller neap tide — tracked live by the Regime readout.

⚙ Under the hood

2D top-down tides diagram: real 1/r³ lunar and solar tidal-force math, a movable tide-gauge observer, and a live 30-day water-height chart.

tidesastronomygravitationmoontidal force

2D · HTML5 Canvas 2D · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install