Geophysics to every area of the Earth sciences. To provide a clearer idea of what constitutes geophysics, this section describes phenomena that are studied in physics and how they relate to the Earth and its surroundings. The gravitational pull of the Moon and Sun give rise to two high tides and two low tides every lunar day, or every 24 hours and 50 minutes. Therefore, there is a gap of 12 hours and 25 minutes between every high tide and between every low tide. Gravitational forces make rocks press down on deeper rocks, increasing their density as the depth increases. Measurements
Frozen orbit propellant. For most spacecraft, changes to orbits are caused by the oblateness of the Earth, gravitational attraction from the sun and moon, solar radiation pressure, and air drag. These are called "perturbing forces". They must be counteracted by maneuvers to keep the spacecraft in the desired orbit. For a geostationary spacecraft, correction maneuvers on the order of 40–50 m/s per year are required to counteract the gravitational forces from the sun and moon which move the orbital plane away from the equatorial plane of the Earth. For sun-synchronous spacecraft, intentional shifting of the orbit plane (called "precession") can be used