Does Earth have two high-tide bulges on opposite sides? (2014)

When I was in grad school in astronomy, one of my professors told me "many a promising young researcher has run their career aground on the rocky shores of tides."

The mathematics involved in the theory of tides are formidable. Even in homogeneous, tidally locked systems things can get complicated very quickly.

But tides are nevertheless very important. One two objects pass very close to each other, tidal effects are substantial and can actual destroy one of the objects: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidal_disruption_event

destruction (or nearly) via tidal mechanics happens in several of larry niven's short sf stories

As I recall there were issues with the math in Neutron Star though still a very good story.