So, How big are the tides on Titan?

Craig Fink wrote:
Just wondering how big the tides on Titan might be?

Maybe they're huge?

Low gravity in conjunction with a really big moon called Saturn. After all
motion is relative. ;-)

Well, they would be. Or, they are, but they don't move much.
Titan is tidally locked to Saturn. However, it does undergo
libration due to a slightly elliptical orbit.

Craig Fink wrote:
Just wondering how big the tides on Titan might be?

Maybe they're huge?

Low gravity in conjunction with a really big moon called Saturn. After all
motion is relative. ;-)

Craig Fink

Some web sites say Titan's tide locked. If it's tidelocked, the tidal
bulge will stay put.


--
Hop David
http://clowder.net/hop/index.html

On Mon, 17 Jan 2005 16:46:20 -0700
Hop David wrote:

Some web sites say Titan's tide locked. If it's tidelocked, the tidal
bulge will stay put.

Yes, but it will vary in size and position if Titan has an eccentric orbit around Saturn. To get a large eccentricity there would have to be another large moon. So Titan must have a low (but non zero) eccentricity and a small (but non zero) variation in the tide forom Saturn.

We know Titan has wind. There must be an energy input from somewhere.
--
Michael Smith
Network Applications
www.netapps.com.au | +61 (0) 416 062 898
Web Hosting | Internet Services

Michael Smith wrote:

We know Titan has wind. There must be an energy input from somewhere.

Sunlight.

Paul

In message
Craig Fink wrote:

Just wondering how big the tides on Titan might be?

Maybe they're huge?

Approximately 0.5 * sqrt(f*ckall) most likely. As with most moons,
Titan is rotationally locked so any tidal bulge will be fixed at one
point.

Anthony

Anthony Frost wrote:
In message
Craig Fink wrote:

Just wondering how big the tides on Titan might be?

Maybe they're huge?

| Approximately 0.5 * sqrt(f*ckall) most likely.
What happens if one, but not both, of f or ckall are negative?

In message .com
"Alex Terrell" wrote:


Anthony Frost wrote:
In message
Craig Fink wrote:

Just wondering how big the tides on Titan might be?

Maybe they're huge?

Approximately 0.5 * sqrt(f*ckall) most likely.

What happens if one, but not both, of f or ckall are negative?

Well, by experimental observation one of them is. It makes the tides
imaginary...

Anthony

Craig Fink wrote:

Just wondering how big the tides on Titan might be?

Maybe they're huge?

Depends on how deep that the Titanian oceans are... or maybe they are
just shallow lakes a few feet deep.

JRS: In article , dated
Mon, 17 Jan 2005 15:42:52, seen in news:sci.space.policy, Craig Fink
posted :
Just wondering how big the tides on Titan might be?

Maybe they're huge?

Low gravity in conjunction with a really big moon called Saturn. After all
motion is relative. ;-)

Our Moon has an angular diameter, from Earth, of 0.01 and a specific
gravity of about 3.

Saturn has an angular diameter, from Titan, of 0.1 and a specific
gravity of about 1.

The tidal field will therefore be about 1000/3 = 300 times greater.

I forget the value of Titan's surface gravity; but, being proportional
to specific gravity and to radius, it should be about a third of ours;
and the seas there will be a little less dense than seawater.

The tidal response should therefore be around three orders of magnitude
greater than ours here, if other things were equal.


Unequal things include :

Titan's seas look smaller - our continental shoreline tides are much
grater than our mid-ocean ones (cf. tsunami).

Titan keeps the same face towards Saturn, with some libration; Earth
does not keep the same face towards the Moon. But the distance Titan-
Saturn varies too.

The Moon's relevant period is about a day; Titan's is 16 days.

Titan seems, on the whole, likely to be flatter than Earth; and it is
very likely that some of the flatter-than-average parts will be near
mean sea level.



Thus ISTM that tide, as measured by the distance of ebb and flow, will
probably be small but not imperceptible. However, if the "sea" is
actually lakes rather than ocean, variations of local "rainfall" may
have more effect.

--
© John Stockton, Surrey, UK. / ©
Web URL:http://www.merlyn.demon.co.uk/ - FAQish topics, acronyms, & links.
Correct = 4-line sig. separator as above, a line precisely "-- " (SoRFC1036)
Do not Mail News to me. Before a reply, quote with "" or " " (SoRFC1036)