TIDE WHEEL LAB
Purpose: How do the Moon and the Sun interact with the Earth to create the tides?
Hypothesis: None needed!
Materials: Do not copy!
• 1-scissors
• 1-sharp pencil
outs
• 1-box of colored pencils
• 1-Sun-Time Chart
• 1-paper fastener
• 1-tide wheel cut
Procedure: Do not copy!
1. Color the Earth brown, the Moon gray, and the water blue on the tide wheel cut out
paper.
2. Color the Sun yellow and the Sun’s ‘solar flares’ orange on the Sun-Time Chart.
3. Cut out the Earth and the Moon-Water discs from the tide wheel cut out paper.
4. Cut out the center rectangle section between the Moon and water on the Moonwater disc that says, “cut out.”
5. O.K. cowpoke, poke a small hole through the center spot on the Earth disc with a
sharp pencil.
6. Now poke a small hole through the center spot on the Moon-Tide Wheel.
7. Lastly, poke a small hole through the center of the Time Circle on the Sun-Time
Chart.
8. Place the Moon-water disc directly over the Time Circle on the Sun-Time Chart,
lining up the holes.
9. Place the Earth disc directly on top of the Moon-water disc, lining up the holes.
10. Finally, push a paper fastener through all the lined up punched holes and bend the
ends out to secure the discs together. Your Sun-Time Chart should be assembled
like this:
Figure 1: Final Sun-Time Chart
11. LABEL the name of the phase of the Moon at positions A, B, C, & D. (Hint:
remember that we always assume we are looking at the Solar System from above
the Northern Hemisphere, everything orbits counterclockwise, and New Moon = 0°.)
Data: Please copy and fill out the data table and answer the following questions in
Complete, Quality, & Correct (CQC) sentences.
Remember that the ∗ represents where you are (in this case, Puget Sound) on Earth
and to keep things simple, lets assume this activity is on one of the equinoxes.
Part I: Labeling the Phases (review!!)
Data Table #1: Moon Phase Review
Description
Name
of Phase
Draw what the Moon
would look like from
Earth
Draw what the Moon
would look like from
above Solar System
Moon 180° from Sun
Moon 270° from Sun
Moon that sets as the
Sun is rising
Moon directly overhead
at noon
Half Moon illuminated
on right
Moon a thin sliver,
visible just after sunrise
Moon that rises after
midnight, but before 6am
Moon at 135° from New
Moon
Moon that rises nine
hours after the Sun rises
Moon a thick sliver,
setting before 10pm
Part II: Practice with Tides
Move the Moon-water disc so that the Moon is in New Moon phase.
Start with the ∗ of the Earth disc at 12 noon. Always turn both discs counterclockwise.
1. Is Puget Sound at high or low tide in this position?
2. At what time will Puget Sound experience the next low tide on the beach? Spin the
Earth and figure it out!
3. At what time will Puget Sound experience the next high tide? Yep, spin the Earth
some more!
Move the Moon-water disc so that the Moon is at the 1st Quarter position.
Start with the ∗ of the Earth disc at 6pm.
4. What type of tide is it in Puget Sound?
5. Move the Earth disc to 8pm. Is the tide flooding into or ebbing out of Puget Sound?
6. Move the Earth disc to 3pm. Is the tide flooding into or ebbing out of Puget Sound?
7. At what two times would Puget Sound have low tides when the Moon is in 1st
Quarter position?
8. Explain why high tides are locked into the Moon’s position and not the Sun’s.
9. What phases of the Moon will create spring tides (highest and lowest)?
10. Move the Moon to New Moon position. What time of day would you want to go out
and dig clams up from the lower intertidal zone?
11. What phases of the Moon will create neap tides (lowest high and highest low)?
12. Move the Moon to 3rd Quarter position. When the tide is really low you can go out
and catch crabs by hand. Would there be a good time to go crabbing?
13. A boater leaves Seattle at low tide. She looks up and notices a 1st Quarter Moon on
the Eastern horizon. What time must it be?
Part III: Tracking the Tides
Use the Seattle tide chart on last page to answer the following questions.
14. What is the height AND time of the highest high tide on March 16th? The lowest?
15. How much later is the 2nd high tide from March 12th to March 13th? Why is it later?
16. Look at the % Moon Visible column. What date(s) is the Full Moon?
17. What date(s) is the 1st Quarter Moon?
18. What is the date AND maximum and minimum heights of the March spring tide?
19. What is the date AND maximum and minimum heights of the March neap tide?
Part IV: Real World Considerations
20. Like the planets, the Moon has an elliptical orbit (eccentricity = 0.0549 to be exact).
What would happen to the tidal bulges when the Moon is closer to the Earth?
Further away?
21. The Moon does not always orbit on the same plane as the Sun and the Earth.
Sometimes it is above the equatorial plane and sometimes below. When the Moon
is above the equatorial plane closer to the Northern Hemisphere, what will that do
to our tides in Puget Sound. What will happen to Puget Sound tides when the
Moon is below the equatorial plane?
22. The Sun-Time Chart represents an ideal water planet with no friction and no
landmasses. In the real world with friction and landmasses, what happens to the
tidal bulges in relationship to the Moon? Would the bulges move ahead of the
Moon, stay with the Moon, or lag behind the Moon? Explain.
Conclusion:
1. Make a statement as to how the Moon affects the tides.
2. Make a statement as to how the Sun affects the tides. How does this compare to
the Moon?
3. Make a statement as to how the Moon and Sun affects the tides together. Be sure
to include the terms spring tide and neap tide.