Gerrard Kaonga
Neil deGrasse Tyson has left people reeling after his 'mind blowing' explanation of how tides work, which he says are 'widely misunderstood'.
Now when it comes to why things happen on the Earth most of us like to think we have a good scientific understanding of things.
But then all it takes is a five-year-old kid to ask you a question like why is the sky blue, or why do the seasons change or why the tides go in and go out for you to start sweating.
Then you realize you don’t remember as much from your school lessons as you thought.
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Well in a YouTube video that has begun circulating on social media again, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson dispelled some misconceptions about the oceans and tides.
A snippet of the StarTalk YouTube video has even got people on Reddit talking and stunned at his comments.
“Tides are widely misunderstood,” deGrasse Tyson began in the shortened clip.
So, I guess buckle up to have your initial thoughts about them thrown out the window.
He continued: “The next thing I say may be mind blowing to you.”
“The tide doesn’t actually come in and out. What happens is there is a bulge of water, two of them, on opposite sides of the Earth.
“They are caused by the Sun and the Moon and Earth turns inside that bulge. So when we say [the tides] rise and fall, tidally what is happening is we are rotating into the bulge and then out of the bulge.
“Then the water, gets high and then it gets low.”
Some of the comments really did have people questioning everything they thought they knew.
“The animations help a tremendous amount on top of Neil's explanation. Thank you, I learned something new,” one YouTuber commented.
“It's always refreshing to hear from such a great mind as Neil deGrasse Tyson. For those who appreciate great science, this has always been an important thing to know for those of us who live near several bodies of water or any large body of water for that matter,” another added.
“Neil deGrasse Tyson is excellent at explaining science!!! I'll just need to watch this video 10 more times and I'll have it down, no problem,” wrote a third person.
“A true scientist is not defined by his degree but by his attitude towards educating the common people with the scientific wealth he has accumulated,” commented another.
Guess you learn a bit more science each day, eh.