A small change in the moon's distance can increase tidal forces by twenty percent
The moon's orbital path is an ellipse rather than a circle, meaning small variations in its distance from Earth can trigger a massive twenty percent surge in the gravitational pull on our oceans.
When the moon reaches its closest point to Earth, known as perigee, it sits approximately 356,500 kilometers away. This shift follows the inverse-square law of physics, where a relatively minor change in distance produces a disproportionately large change in force. During a perigean full moon, the gravitational pull increases by roughly 20% compared to when the moon is at its farthest point.
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