<p>Yes, but the effect of any plausible number or mass of satellites will be negligible.</p>
<p>The force due to gravity between two objects is proportional to the masses of the two objects and inversely proportional to the distance between them. The mass of the Earth is constant, so the things that matter here are the mass of the other object, and how far away it is.</p>
<p>Large satellites mass a few tonnes, while most are lighter. The mass of the moon is 7x10<sup>19</sup> tonnes.</p>
<p>The moon is further away, which weakens its effects, but only a few hundred times further away. So the effect of the moon will be somewhere (very roughly) around 10<sup>17</sup> times that of a single satellite.</p>
<p>So unless we were to launch literally trillions of satellites, we can continue to treat their effects as negligible for most purposes.</p>
<p>(it is a bit more complex because of the question of how these satellites are distributed - some of them will cancel out others, and so forth - but the forces will be so small that I don't imagine it matters)</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-10-28T08:58:31.460Z
(The mass of the Earth isn't totally constant, but [1 trillion and one X 5] vs [1 trillion x 6], the small number's change is much more a factor percentage wise)
JeopardyTempest
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-10-25T12:45:09.867Z
2022-10-25T16:46:48.500Z
2022-10-25T16:46:48.500Z
Semidiurnal Simon
<p>I know that space is big and satellites are small compared with the moon, but do they have, or will they if we get more, any effect on the sea and ocean water on the earth?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-10-19T02:25:46.947Z
See the answers to [Do satellites decrease the amount of solar radiation reaching Earth?](https://earthscience.stackexchange.com/questions/22741/do-satellites-decrease-the-amount-of-solar-radiation-reaching-earth).  Same idea.  Do school buses have a notable gravity when you walk by them?  Then placing school buses thousands of miles up, even if thousands of them... won't have even a hair of real impact on the Earth.
JeopardyTempest
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-10-19T02:36:00.730Z
i get your point thx
rhett
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-10-19T21:32:32.237Z
@JeopardyTempest Except when they fall out of orbit. The engine blocks might survive to hit the ground. ;)
Spencer
<sea-level><tides><gravity>
Do the 600 satellites that orbit the Earth have any gravitational pull on the tides like the moon?
rhett
# Do the 600 satellites that orbit the Earth have any gravitational pull on the tides like the moon?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2022-10-19)

I know that space is big and satellites are small compared with the moon, but do they have, or will they if we get more, any effect on the sea and ocean water on the earth?

**Tags:** sea-level, tides, gravity

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: See the answers to [Do satellites decrease the amount of solar radiation reaching Earth?](https://earthscience.stackexchange.com/questions/22741/do-satellites-decrease-the-amount-of-solar-radiation-reaching-earth).  Same idea.  Do school buses have a notable gravity when you walk by them?  Then placing school buses thousands of miles up, even if thousands of them... won't have even a hair of real impact on the Earth.  
> **username_0**: i get your point thx  
> **username_2**: @username_1 Except when they fall out of orbit. The engine blocks might survive to hit the ground. ;)  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2022-10-25. Score: 2

Yes, but the effect of any plausible number or mass of satellites will be negligible.

The force due to gravity between two objects is proportional to the masses of the two objects and inversely proportional to the distance between them. The mass of the Earth is constant, so the things that matter here are the mass of the other object, and how far away it is.

Large satellites mass a few tonnes, while most are lighter. The mass of the moon is 7x1019 tonnes.

The moon is further away, which weakens its effects, but only a few hundred times further away. So the effect of the moon will be somewhere (very roughly) around 1017 times that of a single satellite.

So unless we were to launch literally trillions of satellites, we can continue to treat their effects as negligible for most purposes.

(it is a bit more complex because of the question of how these satellites are distributed - some of them will cancel out others, and so forth - but the forces will be so small that I don't imagine it matters)

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: (The mass of the Earth isn't totally constant, but [1 trillion and one X 5] vs [1 trillion x 6], the small number's change is much more a factor percentage wise)  

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