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A spatially uniform external gravitational acceleration moves a body's centre of mass without stretching it. Tidal forces arise from the variation of that acceleration across the body. Let a distant mass $M$ lie at distance $D$ along unit vector $\mathbf{n}$, and let $|\mathbf{r}|\ll D$ denote position relative to the body's centre. Subtract the centre's acceleration. To first order,The tidal tensor is $T_{ij}=GM(3n_i{n}_j-{\delta }_{ij})/D^3$. It stretches along the line to the source with eigenvalue $2GM/D^3$ and compresses in the two perpendicular directions with eigenvalues $-GM/D^3$. Its trace vanishes outside the source, consistently with Laplace's equation for the gravitational potential.

After removal of the constant and uniform-acceleration terms, the tidal potential isAn ideal equilibrium ocean on a sphere of radius $R$ follows an equipotential of the body's gravity plus this perturbation. For surface gravity $g$, the leading displacement isup to a constant fixing total water volume. The quadrupolar form produces bulges on both the near and far sides; the far-side bulge follows from differential acceleration, without postulating a repulsive gravitational force.

The Moon and Sun both raise terrestrial tides, with relative strength set mainly by $M/D^3$, rather than by the total gravitational pull $M/D^2$. Their contributions reinforce near new and full Moon to produce spring tides, and partly cancel near quadrature to produce neap tides. Earth's rotation relative to the tidal pattern gives a strong semidiurnal component in the simplest geometry. Real tide heights and timing depend on ocean depth, coastlines, basin resonances, Coriolis acceleration, friction and the declination of the forcing bodies. Tidal dissipation produces phase lags and torques, exchanging rotational and orbital angular momentum and gradually altering the spin and orbit. The equilibrium bulge is therefore a useful starting model, not an exact local tide forecast.

A tide is a periodic change in ocean level driven mainly by the differential gravitational forces of the Moon and Sun, together with the Earth's rotation. Their tidal forces act across the extended planet; a uniform acceleration shared by the whole Earth does not by itself generate a tide. Ocean-basin resonance and coastal geometry modify the local response.