本文适合作为张量分析自学入门的一个案例
从牛顿引力和运动学公式出发，利用张量语言推到和描述经典力学框架下的潮汐效应，张量分析的初学者可以此为例联系基本计算和对方向导数的理解，同时作为广义相对论中测地线偏离理论的先导
Newton’s second law (componentwise)
$$
\frac{d^{2} x^{i}}{d t^{2}} \equiv a^{i} \equiv \frac{F^{i}}{m}
$$
Newtonian equation of gravitation
$$
\frac{F^{i}}{m}=-\eta^{i j} \partial_{j} \phi
$$
combine two equations give:
$$
\frac{d^{2} x^{i}}{d t^{2}}=-\eta i j\left[\partial_{j} \phi\right]_{\vec{x}}
$$
where the subscription $\vec{x}$ denotes the derivative is operated at position $\vec{x}$ similarly we have at $\vec{x}+\vec{n}$ :
$$
\frac{d^{2}\left(x^{i}+n^{i}\right)}{d t^{2}}=-\eta^{i j}\left[\partial_{j} \phi\right]_{\vec{x}+\vec{n}}
$$
make subtraction give:
$$
\frac{d^{2} n^{i}}{d t^{2}}=-\eta^{i j}\left(\left[\partial_{j} \phi\right]{\vec{x}+\vec{n}}-\left[\partial{j} \phi\right]_{\vec{x}}\right)
$$
given $\vec{n}$ is infinitesimal, we have RHS:
$$
\text { RHS }=-\eta^{i j} n^{k}\left[\partial_{k}\left(\partial_{j} \phi\right)\right]_{\vec{x}}
$$
set Cartesian coordinates originated from centre of earth orient the $z$-axis so that is consists with $\vec{x}$ (position vector) then $\vec{X}=\left(X^{1}, X^{2}, X^{3}\right)=(0,0, z)$.
gravitational potential is given by:
$$
\phi=-\frac{G M}{r}=-\frac{G M}{\left(x^{2}+y^{2}+z^{2}\right)^{1 / 2}}
$$
and thus
$$
\begin{aligned}
\partial_{j} \phi & =\frac{\partial \phi}{\partial x^{j}} \\
& =-\frac{d \phi}{d r} \frac{\partial r}{\partial x^{j}} \\
& =\frac{G M}{r^{3}} x^{j}
\end{aligned}
$$
and
$$
\begin{aligned}
\partial_{k} \partial_{j} \phi & =\frac{\partial}{\partial x^{k}}\left(\frac{G M}{r^{3}} x^{j}\right) \\
& =\frac{\partial}{\partial x^{k}}\left(\frac{G M}{r^{3}}\right) x^{j}+\delta_{k}^{j} \frac{G M}{r^{3}} \\
& =-\frac{3 G M}{r^{4}} x^{j}+\delta_{k}^{j} \frac{G M}{r^{3}}
\end{aligned}
$$
thus.
$$
\begin{aligned}
& \frac{d^{2}}{d t^{2}} n^{x}=-\frac{G M}{r^{3}} n^{x} \\
& \frac{d^{2}}{d t^{2}} n^{y}=-\frac{G M}{r^{3}} n^{y} \\
& \frac{d^{2}}{d t^{2}} n^{z}=\frac{2 G M}{r^{3}} n^{z}
\end{aligned}
$$