awblain
"And tourist, perhaps a remedial course in counting is in order, or am I somehow wrong about the intertidal period and the oceanic tidal range? "
"The tidal acceleration moves water about two meters in six hours.
The free fall acceleration moves water two meters in about 0.4 seconds.
The force is related to the square of the ratio of those times. That's gives a measure of the low-down scale of tidal forces"
No.
The force that moves tides is not that simple. If it were, then lakes would go up and down in a similar range. They don't incidentally.
If you drop water in free fall, then it can fall because there is obviously nothing underneath it.
The sea is not in that position. For the surface to rise and fall, the water has to move sideways, or the water has to expand and contract.
The example you quoted of a tidal range of 2m in 6 hours is not a simple F=ma equation.
You have to bring in an incredibly complex range of factors including sea bottom shape, sea viscosity, flow patterns through constrictions, compressibility to name just the first ones off the top of my head.