how .. extreme high/low tide @ full moon?

[ingear]

When the sun and moon are not aligned, the gravitational forces cancel each other out, and the tides are not as dramatically high and low. These are called neap tides. When the moon is full or new, the gravitational pull of the moon and sun are combined

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgpIy4tUjFI

when moon & sun are aligned = new moon .. i undertand that water would be pulled towards them = extreme high/low tide

but i do not get why this would be the case during full moon ..

when the moon is on the opposite side from the sun .. if anything they would be sort of help to reduce each others pull ..

yet we also get an extreme high/low tide

please help me undertand ..

 

[repoman0]

The tides result from the shape of the oceans being stretched into an ellipsoid. This results in high tides along the longer axes (along the line formed by the sun, earth, and full/new moon, i.e. on two sides of the earth) and low tides along the flatter spots. It doesn't matter which side of the earth the moon is on, as long as it is aligned it will help shape the oceans in the same way.

 

[DrPizza]

Start with the simpler case - no sun exists. Perhaps it helps to realize that when the moon is on one side of the earth, both the side toward the moon and the opposite side of the Earth are having high tides. Now add sun, and you have two objects with the same effect.