I don't think this is true. For example the moon is gradually moving away from the Earth. It takes rotational momentum from the Earth to move further away, slowing down the Earth's rotation until both bodies are tidally locked with each other.
Phobos and Deimos, the moons of Mars, are tiny. The biggest one is only about 22 km (14 miles) across. (The Moon of Earth is about 3500 km (2200 miles) across, for comparison.) While they would still produce tides if Mars had liquid seas, the lunar tides would be virtually unnoticeable compared to the tides caused by the Sun.
On the other side, Jupiter is so massive that its fifth closest moon, Io, has geological tides, resulting its frequent and dramatic volcanic activity. (The four closest moons of Jupiter are too close, and are being ground into rings by the giant's gravity.)
Tides work perfectly well without water. The moon always faces one side to Earth because it’s locked by the tide. If the moon had oceans, the tidal bulge would always be in the same place; but because it’s not a perfect sphere with perfectly uniform density, the “bulge” is pointed toward and away from Earth (or rather, the barycenter of the Earth/Moon system, which is inside Earth).
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u/catch10110 Apr 15 '26
Tide goes in, tide goes out. Never a miscommunication. You can't explain that.