Which term describes tides when the Sun and Moon are at right angles, resulting in weaker tides?

Which term describes tides when the Sun and Moon are at right angles, resulting in weaker tides?

• A. Spring tide
• B. Neap tide
• C. High tide
• D. Low tide

Answer: (B)

Tides depend on the gravity from both the Moon and the Sun, and how their pulls combine determines how strong the tides are. Each body creates a bulge in Earth’s oceans: one toward the Moon and one on the opposite side. When the Sun and Moon line up with Earth, their gravitational forces reinforce each other, producing stronger tides with higher high tides and lower low tides—these are the spring tides. When the Sun and Moon are at right angles relative to Earth, their pulls partially cancel, so the bulges are smaller and the difference between high and low tides shrinks. That weaker, smaller-tide situation is called a neap tide, which occurs around the Moon’s first and third-quarter phases.

Tides depend on the gravity from both the Moon and the Sun, and how their pulls combine determines how strong the tides are. Each body creates a bulge in Earth’s oceans: one toward the Moon and one on the opposite side. When the Sun and Moon line up with Earth, their gravitational forces reinforce each other, producing stronger tides with higher high tides and lower low tides—these are the spring tides. When the Sun and Moon are at right angles relative to Earth, their pulls partially cancel, so the bulges are smaller and the difference between high and low tides shrinks. That weaker, smaller-tide situation is called a neap tide, which occurs around the Moon’s first and third-quarter phases.