neap tide
The tide which occurs near a quarter lunar phase, causing the variance between high and low tide to be minimal.
neap tide: Ocean tide of low amplitude occurring at first- and third-quarter moon.
nebula: A cloud of gas and dust in space.
nebular hypothesis: The proposal that the solar system formed from a rotating cloud of gas.
Neap Tide - An unusually low high tide and unusually high low tide that occur when the tidal forces of the Sun and Moon act at right angles to one another ...
NEAP TIDES
Neap tides are especially weak tides. They occur when the gravitational forces of the Moon and the sun are perpendicular to one another (with respect to the Earth). Neap tides occur during quarter moons.
neap tide tide that has a small change between low and high tide. It occurs at first and third quarter phase, when the Moon's tidal effect is perpendicular with the Sun's tidal effect.
Twice a month -- at waxing quarter and waning quarter Moon -- neap tides bring an even keel to this sometimes tempestuous tidal triangle.
the Moon is at first quarter or last quarter phase (meaning that it is located at right angles to the Earth-Sun line), the Sun and Moon interfere with each other in producing tidal bulges and tides are generally weaker; these are called neap tides.
Spring and Neap Tides
Spring Tides occur at new and full moon, when the combined gravitation effect of the Sun and Moon act to make high tides higher and low tides lower.
When the pull from the Sun adds to that of the Moon the tides are large and we call them Spring tides whereas when the pulls are at 90 degrees the tides are small and we call them Neap tides.
At spring tide the two effects add to each other to a theoretical level of 79 cm, while at neap tide the theoretical level is reduced to 29 cm.
Crepuscular Ray, Day, Eclipse, Elongation, Equinox, Faculae, Faint Early Sun Paradox, First Point in Aries, Green Flash, Heliographic Coordinates, Helioseismology, Inferior Conjunction, Lunar Eclipse, Mean Solar Time, Midnight, Mock Sun, Neap Tide, ...
Conversely, when the Sun and Moon form a right angle with the Earth, the Sun's gravitational pull on the oceans minimizes the effect of the Moon's pull to cause weak tidal fluctuations called neap tides.
When the Moon and Sun are 90 degrees apart from one another (during the Quarter phases) the tides are flattened out - these are the neap tides.
When the moon and sun are at right angles, as shown in the picture at the left, the moon's tidal effects cancel out that of the sun's, but as a result its pull is diminished, causing what are called neap tides.
speeds of nearly one-tenth of the speed of wind provide the same power for the same size of turbine system. However this limits the application in practice to places where the tide moves at speeds of at least 2 knots (1m/s) even close to neap tides.
These tides are known as spring tides. When the Earth"Moon line is perpendicular to the Earth"Sun line (at the first and third quarters; Figure 7.23b), the daily tides are smallest. These are termed neap tides.
 See also: Earth, Sun, Moon, Solar, Orbit
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