Do tides occur on planets like Neptune, having water?

Question

I mean, we experience tides here on earth because of combined effect of gravitational field of moon and sun. So I thought that tides could also occur on other planets. Let us consider Neptune where the gas transits into a slushy ice and water layer. The water-ammonia ocean serves as the planet's mantle, and contains more than ten times the mass of Earth. Also it has 14 moons. What I was thinking was that more moons would mean more tidal effect would be seen even if distance from sun has increased. But then I thought that the moons of Neptune would all have different orbits and different time periods of rotation. So this will definitely impact the extent of tides. To what extent will this affect tides? And how will tides formed on Neptune be different than that formed on earth? I mean, how will they vary in properties?

Answer 1

The two main factors on the strength of tides is the distance between the bodies and the masses involved.

The only moon of Neptune that is any concern for tides is Triton. It is the only one with a significant mass. Triton has about a third the mass of Earth's moon and is about the same distance from the Neptune as the Moon is from Earth. Would expect the tides to be about a third of the size of Earth's tides in relation to Neptune's size. Since Neptune is about 4 times bigger than Earth would expect the actual tides to be about the same as the ones on Earth after subtracting the Sun's contribution. Neptune is just too far from the Sun for it to have a significant contribution to the tides on Neptune.