Ms. Shon's Spectacular Science
  • Blog
    • Unit 0: Scientific Inquiry
    • Unit 1: Earth as a System
    • Unit 2: Rocks and Minerals
    • Unit 3: Chemistry
    • Unit 4: Human Body Systems
    • IPW
  • Videos
    • Unit 0: Scientific Inquiry
    • Unit 1: Earth as a System
    • Unit 2: Rocks and Minerals
    • Unit 3: Chemistry
    • Unit 4: Human Body Systems
    • Ms. Shon's "Home" Videos
    • MS 88 in the Media
    • IPW
    • Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey (2014) >
      • Episode 3: When Knowledge Conquered Fear
  • Announcements & Homework
  • Links
    • Unit 1: Earth as a System
  • Glossary
    • Unit 0: Scientific Inquiry
    • Unit 1: Earth as a System
    • Unit 2: Rocks and Minerals
    • Unit 3: Chemistry
    • Unit 4: Human Body Systems
    • IPW
  • FAQ
  • Contact
  • Tests and Quizzes
  • Rubrics
  • For Teachers

Earthquakes

1/29/2015

 
What causes Earthquakes?
Tectonic plate movement is the primary cause of earthquakes.  Tectonic plates do not have smooth edges, and generate a ton of friction when they slide/grind past each other at a transform boundary.  The edges can become stuck for a while, too.  If this happens, pressure builds up in the crust. The pressure can build and build until the rocks snap, releasing seismic waves. The sudden release of these seismic waves is called an earthquake. 
Picture
Picture
Picture
There are two types of seismic waves: 
1) P-waves (top): P-waves move in a horizontal, push-and-pull way.  P-waves travel faster than S-waves, and can travel through liquids or solid materials.
2) S-waves (bottom): S-waves move in a side-to-side way, forming an S shape.  S-waves travel slower than P-waves, but are also more destructive.  S waves can only travel through solid materials.

P and S waves can be modeled with a slinky as shown below.

Picture
Earthquakes tell us about the Earth's Interior Structure
Because P and S waves travel at different speeds and through different types of materials (S waves cannot travel through solids), scientists were able to determine that the Earth had 4 layers.  Since the S waves could not travel through the liquid outer core, the waves cannot travel through to the other side of the Earth.
Picture
Extension Activity
BrainPop: Earthquakes
Username = ms881
Password = ms88rocks

Comments are closed.

    Archives

    January 2015
    December 2014
    February 2014

    Categories

    All
    Atmosphere
    Biosphere
    Continental Drift
    Convection
    Converting Units
    Density
    Earth
    Earth's History
    Earth's Interior Structure
    Geologic Time Scale
    Hydrosphere
    Lithosphere/Geosphere
    Mantle
    Mass
    Matter
    Meteorites/Meteors/Asteroids
    Models In Science
    Plate Tectonics
    Scaled
    Scale Factor/unit Rate
    Supernova
    Temperature
    Volume

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly