system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Why are tides much higher in some places than in others?

For example in the UK and the Atlantic coast of France, there are some of the highest tides (in amplitude) in the world but not to far away in the Atlantic coasts of Scandinavia there is almost no tide at all. Why is that? Shouldn't the moon's gravity affect the ocean similarly everywhere on the same side of the earth or how does it actually work?
gpt
Tides are a dynamic phenomenon. Imagine a big, wide bowl partially filled with water. Now imagine tipping the bowl slightly back and forth (meaning: tip it very slightly to the right, then tip it very slightly to the left, and so on). This is analogous to tidal forces, you're changing where the "flat" level of the water is in relation to the bowl. You can think of the high and low spots on each side where the water level ends up as being "tides". If you move the bowl very slowly, the water will stay fairly flat all the time, and the tides will be very simple and predictable if you tilt the bowl the same amount every time. But once you start to tilt the bowl faster then the water starts to slosh. If you had a complicated bowl shape, this would add further complications.

This is basically what happens with Earth's tides. The tidal forces from the Sun and Moon drive the tides, but they do not entirely dictate them. How the water "sloshes" and interacts with the local coastline effects how high and low the tides will reach.