Understanding tides is surprisingly tricky.
Many people learn that “the Moon causes tides,” but how that actually works in space is often hard to picture.
To make this clearer, I built a 3D web-based visualization that shows how the relationship between the Earth and the Moon creates high tides and low tides — using real astronomical sizes and distances.
Most diagrams of tides exaggerate distances and sizes for readability.
In reality:
When drawn accurately, the system looks very different from textbook illustrations.
This project focuses on showing tides without visual shortcuts.
In this 3D web page:
Nothing is resized “for effect.”
What you see is how the system actually looks — just compressed enough to fit on a screen.
One common misconception is that tides only happen on the side of Earth facing the Moon.
In reality:
As Earth rotates through these two tidal bulges, most locations experience:
The 3D visualization makes this immediately visible.
The simulation also reflects real orbital geometry:
These small angles explain:
Seeing these angles in 3D helps connect multiple concepts at once.
