Ocean Tides and the Moon

Lab Brief #7

🎯 Your mission

Learn the rule. Then catch nature using it.

⚡ The twist

The light you see now started its trip a long time ago.

What you'll learn

The moon's gravity pulls on Earth's oceans, causing the water to bulge and create high and low tides. Most coastlines experience two high tides and two low tides during each day.

Key words

gravity
A force that pulls things down toward the Earth.

Make a hypothesis first

Guess: how big does that look from here vs. from there?

Say your guess out loud — then find out if you were right.

Step 1 of 4 · Read

Look at the vocabulary words and write a definition for each in your own words.

Step 2 of 4 · Do

Track the moon's phase each night for two weeks. Draw what you see and identify the pattern.

Step 3 of 4 · Observe

Watch carefully for any changes and note the time.

Step 4 of 4 · Record

Create a data table to organize your measurements.

Question 1 of 3

What causes moon phases?

How sure are you?😐 maybe

Question 2 of 3

What causes the seasons?

How sure are you?😐 maybe

Question 3 of 3

Why do we have day and night?

How sure are you?😐 maybe

Mind = blown

🪐 A day on Venus is longer than a year on Venus.

Nice work!

You got 0 of 3 right.

Next: Telescopes and Studying Space All lessons

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✨ More to explore

🌍 Where you see this in real life: GPS, weather forecasts, and the seasons all rely on this.

🏆 Stretch challenge (try it this week): Find a constellation in the sky. Look it up. Tell someone its story.

👨‍👩‍👧 For the dinner table: “If you could visit any planet, which would you pick and why?”

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