Topic summary
Tidal bulge
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Tidal force.
Size and distance
For example, even though the Sun has a stronger overall gravitational pull on Earth, the Moon creates a larger tidal bulge because the Moon is closer. This difference is due to the way gravity weakens with distance: the Moon's closer proximity creates a steeper decline in its gravitational pull as you move across Earth (compared to the Sun's very gradual decline from its vast distance). This steeper gradient in the Moon's pull results in a larger difference in force between the near and far sides of Earth, which is what creates the bigger tidal bulge.