What did you change in the model?
Labs / Astronomy
Tidal Locking
A moon circles its planet while spinning on its own axis. Slide the spin rate and watch the amber surface marker: when the moon turns exactly once per orbit, the same face stays aimed at the planet forever — that is tidal locking. Drag the moon around its orbit to inspect any moment for yourself.
Labs / Astronomy / Tidal Locking
Tidal Locking
A moon circles its planet while spinning on its own axis. Slide the spin rate and watch the amber surface marker: when the moon turns exactly once per orbit, the same face stays aimed at the planet forever — that is tidal locking. Drag the moon around its orbit to inspect any moment for yourself.
Why it matters
Why explore this?
Astronomy uses patterns in light and motion to explain objects we cannot touch directly. This model lets you change one part of a space system and see what the evidence would look like.
Explore
Try the model
spin:orbit 1.00 : 1drift/orbit +0°face offset +0°status Locked
Investigate
Questions to test
Predict first, try it in the model, then use what you observe to answer.
What to try
- Set the spin to exactly 1× the orbit rate. Why does the marker never leave the planet-facing side?
- Turn off the spin entirely. If the moon does not rotate at all, why does every part of its surface still take a turn facing the planet?
- Try Mercury's 3:2 spin. How far does the near point drift each orbit, and how many orbits pass before the same face returns to the planet?
- Watch the tidal bulge. Which way does it lag when the moon spins too fast, and how could that lag act like a brake on the spin?
- Nudge the spin just above or below 1×. How slowly does the “face offset” creep — and is that near-locked state close enough to call it locked?
Explain
Make sense of what happened
Look for a cause-and-effect rule: what did you change, what responded, and what stayed the same? Astronomers use those patterns to infer how distant systems work.
Check
Before you leave
What visible evidence changed?
What rule could explain that change?
If you can answer all three using evidence from the model, you understand the main idea. If not, return to Explore and change one setting at a time.