I suspect the question is about how much mass is required to make a noticeable effect. I mean, technically, if the moon were no more than a baseball, it would still affect tides. We'd just never notice it.
As for "how it works" there are plenty of websites that'll explain it in varying levels of detail. The force of gravity decreases with the square of the distance so even a very large mass that's too far away will only have minimal effect. Such as our Sun. It too affects the tides, but very little since it's so far away.
davewh t1_j01xvsd wrote
Reply to comment by na3than in How large of a mass would it take to disrupt the Earth's tides or gravity at the distance of the moon? by iamzombiezebra
I suspect the question is about how much mass is required to make a noticeable effect. I mean, technically, if the moon were no more than a baseball, it would still affect tides. We'd just never notice it.
As for "how it works" there are plenty of websites that'll explain it in varying levels of detail. The force of gravity decreases with the square of the distance so even a very large mass that's too far away will only have minimal effect. Such as our Sun. It too affects the tides, but very little since it's so far away.