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Shake It, Baby! Earthquakes (May 30, 2003, Two)

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Program Summary

Earth is a work in progress. According to plate tectonics scientists, dry land was once a single, enormous blob that gradually cracked apart into pieces that continue to drift to this day. We humans live on huge slabs of dirt and stone that are in constant motion, sliding and grinding slowly on a never-ending journey. Millions of these movements occur every day around the world, most of which are miniscule, never noticed except by sensitive seismographs (motion sensors). Once in a while however, two plates will bump and scrape by one another quite harshly, causing those breath-stopping, building-toppling phenomena called earthquakes. Quakes can cause billions of dollars of damage and take an enormous toll in lives.

You can predict rain, but you can’t predict earthquakes. Unlike tornados, hurricanes, and volcanoes, quakes give no warning that they’re coming. You may feel a slight trembling, but the quake is already on its way, and all you can do is scurry under a desk or table to keep from getting hurt by falling things. Ira’s guest, Dr. Richard Allen, is developing an early warning system that could give some people who aren’t at the epicenter 20 to 40 seconds to prepare. It doesn’t sound like much, but it can be enough to round up the kids and the pets and get them under some protection. It also provides the chance to halt trains and subways, turn off electrical systems, and keep cars from entering freeways. The warning system would utilize TriNet, the string of seismographic stations throughout California that detect the slightest movements of the earth. When a station picks up p-waves (the mild waves of motion that start the quake), public alarms would alert the population of the affected area that the s- and l-waves (the hard shakes that do all the damage) are coming. Kind of like Paul Revere’s midnight ride!

Guests

Richard Allen, assistant professor of geophysics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin

Related Links and Resources

SFGate.com, May 5, 2003: “Shaking Up System of Quake Predictions, Pair's Alarm Could Save People, Buildings”
American Geophysical Union Fall 2002 Meeting: Shake, Rattle and Roll II: New Results in Earthquake Hazards

For Discussion:

• What causes earthquakes? Why can they be so destructive?
• What are plate tectonics?
• Where do earthquakes occur?
• How can we prepare for an earthquake?
• If you’ve experienced an earthquake, what did it feel like? How did you feel? What did you do when it hit?
• If you haven’t experienced one, how do you think you would react?

Activities

Rock and roll. The resources on the Internet about earthquakes are endless. Here are some lesson plans and sites for kids that provide well-organized information, great visuals, and fun activities.

• The Riverdeep EarthScience Center is a wonderful interactive virtual laboratory. You need Flash, Quicktime, and Simplayer, which can be downloaded for free at the new visitor orientation page.
• U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS’s) Earthquake Hazards Program offers Earthquakes for Kids, a colorful, entertaining, and fascinating site, with facts, activities, science fair ideas, and more.
• The Exploratorium’s Life Along the Faultline: Life and Science in Earthquake Country explains how’s and why’s of earthquakes in very descriptive terms, including prediction and prevention.
• “Savage Earth: Restless Planet,” an episode of PBS’s “Savage Earth” series, has great videos and animations and a sense of humor.
• Earthquakes: Getting Ready for the Big One is a lesson plan from DiscoverySchool.com.

Quake country. Earthquakes aren’t just in California. They occur all over the world. One of the worst American quakes was in Louisiana in 1811. Find out more about it at New Madrid Fault (National Geographic News, December 12, 2000).

You had to be there. Even if the students don’t live in earthquake country, they can still take at tour at USGS Earthquake Hazards Program: Virtual Field Trips.

Building for the bump and grind. Shake, Rattle and Roll: Designing for Adversity, from the National Science Foundation, has students experiment with different materials to give an understanding of how the ground behaves in an earthquake and how to design earthquake-safe structures.Constructing Earthquake-Proof Buildings (DiscoverySchool.com) teaches the same subject and has instructions for building an earthquake machine.

Use the search box below to perform a Google search within any of the specifc sites or general domains mentioned in this Activities section.

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