This is because the warping and stretching force of the gravity gradient exceeds the body’s internal attraction. If the body crosses a point called the ‘Roche Limit’ the distorting tidal forces are so strong to cause an body (such as a moon or comet which strays too close) to disintegrate. Destructive Power Of The Roche LimitĪs an orbiting body gets closer to the larger body, such as a planet, the tidal forces increase. All the other retrograde moons orbit their planet at a great distance where the tidal forces are negligible. There is only one major moon in the solar system which orbits like this, that is Neptune's moon Triton. The other scenario where tidal deceleration causes a moon to breakup or be absorbed by the planet is where the moon orbits in a retrograde direction (i.e. Over millions of years, moons like Phobos will be slowed to the point where they will either strike the planet or cross within the planets ‘Roche limit’ and be tidally torn apart into fragments! The tidal bulge Phobos raises on Mars acts to slow Phobos. There are two scenarios under which this occurs, first, when there is a fast orbiting inner moon, such as Phobos, which orbits Mars faster than the planet rotates. Tidal deceleration also occurs between a moon a larger body like a planet and results in the eventual breakup of the moon or impact with the planet’s surface. This is slowly happening between the Earth and Moon. This also gradually slows the planet's rotation and lengthens its day. Over time, tidal acceleration causes a moon to slowly move away if it is orbiting in the same direction as the planet's rotation. Tidal acceleration occurs between a moon and a planet. This is the case for the dwarf planet Pluto and its moon Charon. However, if the distances are close and the difference in mass between the two bodies is close enough, they may both become tidally locked to each other over time. Typically, only the moons become tidally locked and not the planets. This tidal heating from the gravitational warping of a moon produces dramatic volcanic effects on Jupiter's inner moon Io causing it to be the most volcanic body in the solar system! This loss of rotation energy stops once the moons rotational period matches its orbital period. Tidal locking is caused by a moons rotational energy being lost (over a long period of time) as frictional heating due to the tidal forces and subsequent warping and squeezing. This means that the same side of the moon always faces the planet as it rotates on its axis, exactly once per orbit of the planet! This is why we can never see the far side of the Moon! Tidal forces are responsible for the major moons of the solar system to be tidally locked to their planet. These include tidal locking of moons, tidal acceleration, and the disintegration of moons or comets within the Roche limit, which can lead to the formation of ring systems.
Tidal forces don’t just form the Earth’s tides, they are also responsible for other phenomena too. The influence of the Moons gravity deforms Earth’s surface resulting in a slight bulge and the formation of our daily ocean tides! This same effect is also slowing Earth’s rotation very slightly, resulting in longer days! The Earth and Moon is the best example of this effect. This results in the side closest to the other body experiencing a stronger force of attraction than the far side, thus effectively stretching each body! A tidal force is the result of the non-uniform gravitational field between two objects, often of very different mass.
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