Living in Earthquake Country (6-12)
Overview of the box
Concepts and Standards
Lessons:
1 Earthquake damage
2 Faults are at fault:
Where earthquakes occur
3 Earthquake patterns
4 Seismic waves
Activities:
1 Investigating seismic waves
2 Predicting wave damage
5 A whole lot of shakin’
goin’ on!
6 Landslides, liquefaction,
and structural failure
7 Examining all the factors
Online resources
Student Web Page

Extras:
Lessons that use the
Rapid Earthquake Viewer
Teaching Boxes Home
Lesson 4: Seismic Waves

Activity 1

Investigating Seismic Waves

Materials / Preparation

  • Slinky® (the metal ones work best) and a piece of rope (about 5 or 6 feet long).for each group of students for use in wave demonstration lab.
  • Run off the quiz to be used for assessment.
  • Reserve the computer lab or LCD projector.
  • Ability to run Quicktime movies

Grouping

Groups of two for computer investigations
Groups of four for wave demonstration
Whole group discussions

Teacher tips

If a computer lab is not available, the teacher can print out the information about waves in step #3 and the instructions for step #4 and then use an LCD projector for step #5.

You should visit and familiarize yourself with all the websites mentioned in this lesson before students use them; the animations can take a few seconds to load. The Earthquakes Laboratory website gives basic information and animations on each of the waves. The Savage Earth animation collection shows different types of faults and how seismic waves travel through the earth. You may want to have your students explore this site as an extension when studying the differences among waves.

Procedures

  1. To introduce the lesson on seismic waves, have students recollect what kinds of waves they are familiar with and how waves move (speed, ability to move through different substances, etc.). If they do not mention seismic waves, ask students if they have heard anything about them and what causes them. Again, write their answers on the board.
  2. If necessary, explain to students that seismic waves are generated by earthquakes, that there are several kinds of waves generated, and that they are going to explore the four kinds of seismic waves and the type of damage caused by each.
  3. In the computer lab, students go to the What is Seismology website to obtain information on seismic waves: Students should take notes on the characteristics of each type of wave, including the differences in speed, the ability to move through substances, and types of movement. Note: This site can be accessed directly from the Earthquake Hazards Student Web Page.
  4. At the end of the What is Seismology webpage, students will be asked to make their own P and S waves. Have students click on experiment (last word on the page) to do a brief wave demonstration lab. Instructions are on the web page. Remind students that we are interested in categorizing the different types of waves because they will produce different types of damage.
    Teacher tip: Now is the time to emphasize that a single earthquake produces all of these types of waves. An observer will feel the effect of P-waves, then the slower S-waves, and then the still slower surface waves.
  5. Now that students have some working knowledge about the differences among the four types of seismic waves, they are ready to observe animations of each in order to make a prediction about the amount of damage that they might cause. Students continue to add to their notes on waves. There are two website options:
    a. The Types of Seismic Waves website uses a Quicktime movie format and works well on Macs. It shows all wave types in one place with an audio commentary. There may be a long download time.
    b. Have students visit Seismic Wave Demonstrations and Animations and scroll down to step #4 (P, S, Rayleigh and Love wave animations). Click on each of the images with the gray backgrounds to view animations of each of the waves individually. Students should click on the images with the gray backgrounds to get animations. (These are animated GIFs, which should work everywhere.)
    Note: Both sites can be accessed directly from the Earthquake Hazards Student Web Page.
  6. Bring the class back together and have students share the knowledge that they have gained about each of the types of waves. Ask them to predict the amount of damage each wave might cause to a structure. Write their predictions on the board. Let them know that they will be testing their predictions in the next activity.

Resources used

Earthquakes Laboratory
http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~rmellors/lab8/l8maineq.htm#rwave

Savage Earth Animation
http://www.teachingboxes.org/catalog.jsp?id=SERC-NAGT-000-000-000-675

The Types of Seismic Waves
http://www.teachingboxes.org/catalog.jsp?id=DLESE-000-000-008-834

Seismic Wave Demonstrations and Animations
http://www.teachingboxes.org/catalog.jsp?id=DLESE-000-000-008-835

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