Question

You are watching the sea waves from the balcony of a seaside resort in Mumbai on a New Moon Day. Suddenly you noticed rise of sea water and its movement towards the coast. What was this wave and after how much time will it be repeated?

Answer 1

The wave you observed was a high tide, which is caused by the gravitational pull of the Moon and the Sun. Since you saw this on a New Moon Day, the Sun, Moon, and Earth are aligned, resulting in spring tides—stronger than usual high tides.

This tidal event will be repeated approximately every 12 hours and 25 minutes, meaning the next high tide will occur after this interval due to the Moon’s orbit around the Earth.