I once read (a while ago) that a scientist was able to predict regional earthquakes (Pakistan's last big one) using the effects of lunar and solar gravitational pull to find the 'spots' on the earth that would be most prone to techtonic slippage. Today I read that there will be a line up of Jupiter, Venus and our own moon over the weekend...Makes me wonder if the earth is going to have a notable quake this weekend? Thoughts?
Wouldn't the "line up" of all the planetary bodies pull on the earth normal to whatever point on earth they project onto? Plus the earth is spinning and might be "tilted" (the pacific rim that is) relative to their line of site. The point is, who is to even say they line up with a critical tectonic plate? That point aside, you can figure out what gravitation influence that each body has on earth with this equation:
F = G *{{m_1*m_2}/{r^2}}
I just calculated the forces each body acts on one another. Between the three bodies, moon, jupiter, and venus, approximately, The moon contributes 98.9% of the force, Jupiter contributes 0.6%, and Venus 0.5%.
As expected, jupiter and venus contribute very little to the gravitation force on earth. Factor in the Sun's contribution and they become negligible.
