Tidal force the Moon produces a greater tidal force on the Earth than the Sun, even though the Sun exerts a greater gravitational attraction on the Earth than the Moon, because the gradient is less. The Moon produces a greater tidal force on the Earth, than the tidal force of the Earth on the Moon. The distance is the same, but the diameter of the Earth is greater than the diameter of the Moon, resulting in a greater tidal force. What matters is not the total gravitational attraction on a body, but the difference from one side to the other. The greater
Sun and moon allegory Sun and moon allegory The Sun and Moon Allegory is used to image a medieval political theory that was espoused by the Roman Catholic Church and instantiated to some extent in medieval political practice. Finding this imagery in the "Book of Genesis", the Allegory images authentic spiritual authority as the Sun and any and all civil, or political or secular, authority as the Moon. By doing so, it illustrates that the Roman Catholic Pope, as "Supreme Pontiff", "Vicar of Christ", et cetera, and therefore the supreme universal spiritual authority on Earth, is like the Sun that is the one source