Florida Statewide Science Assessment (SSA) Practice Exam

Tides depend on how the Moon and the Sun pull on Earth’s oceans. The Moon creates two bulges—one closest to it and one on the opposite side—while the Sun also pulls. When the Sun and Moon are aligned, their pulls add up and you get larger high tides and lower low tides—a bigger difference called a spring tide. When the Moon is at the first and third quarter, the Sun, Moon, and Earth form a right angle, so their gravitational effects partially cancel each other. That reduces the overall rise and fall, producing the smallest difference between high and low water—the neap tide. This is why the described timing points to a neap tide. A tidal bore is a different phenomenon occurring in some rivers, and “high tide” just refers to a single high-water event, not the difference between highs and lows.