This is a fascinating question. Perhaps you have
seen some ideas on this somewhere else. You could
use the rise and fall of the sea level to turn
electric-generating equipment. The gearing of the
equipment would have to be tremendous to turn the
very slow motion of the tide into enough displacement
to produce energy. A float attached to the equipment
would also have to be very large to damp out waves
and swells. On the other hand, the action of the
waves and swells themselves, used with a reversible
turbine might be used to produce electricity.
NEWTON is an electronic community for Science, Math, and Computer Science K-12 Educators, sponsored and operated by Argonne National Laboratory's Educational Programs, Andrew Skipor, Ph.D., Head of Educational Programs.