The planes of the earth's orbit around the sun (the ecliptic) and the moon's orbit around the earth are not the same. The moon is above the the ecliptic half the time and below it half the time. You can only have eclipses if there is a full or new moon as the moon is close to the ecliptic.
Neap tides are weaker than spring (full or new moon) tides because, at that time, the sun and moon are creating tidal "bulges" in perpendicular directions, and tending to cancel each other out. Neap tides occur at quarter moon phases.
Why isn't there a solar eclipse and a lunar eclipse each month???????
Compare the size of high and low tides in a spring tide and a neap tide.What causes the difference???????
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