A) Any possible solar tidal effect will be essentially the same at midnight as at noon (to leading order in the multipole expansion, i.e. ignoring higher order multiple effects). Any diurnal solar tidal discrepancy will be maximum between either midnight/midday and either sunrise/sunset.
B) The lunar tidal effect is about 2.5 times stronger than the solar one.
David Bowman
-----Original Message-----
From: Phys-l [mailto:phys-l-bounces@www.phys-l.org] On Behalf Of Anthony Lapinski
Sent: Wednesday, December 10, 2014 8:04 AM
To: phys-l@phys-l.org
Subject: [Phys-L] apparent weight
If you stand on a sensitive scale, will you be slightly lighter at noon (with the Sun above you and pulling opposite to Earth's gravity), and slightly heavier at midnight (with the Sun below you and pulling in the same direction as Earth's gravity)? Ignore any lunar effects.
This came up the other day, and nobody could really agree. One side said no because the Earth is in freefall around the Sun, and it is the Earth that pulls us to it. The other side said yes due to tidal effects as seen in the oceans.
I searched online, and found the same conflicting arguments!