Editing Tidal locking (section)

===Orbital changes===
[[File:tidal_acceleration_principle.svg|thumb|300px|In (1), a satellite orbits in the same direction as (but slower than) its parent body's rotation. The nearer tidal bulge (red) attracts the satellite more than the farther bulge (blue), slowing the parent's rotation while imparting a net positive force (dotted arrows showing forces resolved into their components) in the direction of orbit, lifting it into a higher orbit (tidal acceleration).<br/>In (2) with the rotation reversed, the net force opposes the satellite's direction of orbit, lowering it (tidal deceleration).]]
[[File:MoonTorque.svg|thumb|alt=Tidal Locking|If rotational frequency is larger than orbital frequency, a small torque counteracting the rotation arises, eventually locking the frequencies (situation depicted in green)]]
The [[angular momentum]] of the whole A–B system is conserved in this process, so that when B slows down and loses rotational angular momentum, its ''orbital'' angular momentum is boosted by a similar amount (there are also some smaller effects on A's rotation). This results in a raising of B's orbit about A in tandem with its rotational slowdown. For the other case where B starts off rotating too slowly, tidal locking both speeds up its rotation, and ''lowers'' its orbit.