Earthquakes, Volcanoes, and Tsunamis: Projects and Principles for Beginning Geologists
By Matthys Levy and Mario Salvadori
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About this ebook
Matthys Levy
Matthys Levy is chairman-emeritus of Weidlinger Associates Structural Engineers. His previous books include the best-selling Why Buildings Fall Down and Why the Earth Quakes.
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Earthquakes, Volcanoes, and Tsunamis - Matthys Levy
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Levy, Matthys.
[Earthquake games]
Earthquakes, volcanoes, and tsunamis : projects and principles for beginning geologists Matthys Levy and Mario Salvadori.
p. cm.
Includes index.
Originally published: Earthquake games. New York : M.K. McElderry Books, c1997.
ISBN 978-1-55652-801-9
1. Earthquakes—Juvenile literature. 2. Volcanoes—Juvenile literature. 3. Educational games—Juvenile literature. I. Salvadori, Mario, 1907-1997. II. Levy, Matthys. Earthquake games. III. Title.
QE521.3.L486 2009
551.2—dc22
2008040143
Cover and interior design: Scott Rattray
Interior illustration: Christina C. Blatt
Cover photos: iStock
© 1997, 2009 by Matthys Levy and Mario Salvadori
All rights reserved
First published in 1997 by Margaret K.
McElderry Books as Earthquake Games
This edition published by Chicago Review Press, Incorporated
814 North Franklin Street
Chicago, Illinois 60610
ISBN 978-1-55652-801-9
Printed in the United States of America
5 4 3 2 1
To the children of P.S. 45 in the Bronx, New York,
who first asked,
Mario, how do earthquakes work?
And to
Nicola, Okna, Shae, Edison, Austin, Daniel, and Maia
M. L. and M. S.
Contents
Preface
1. The Secrets of the Earth
The Cracked Egg
Scraping Plates
The Birth of Mountains
Falling Towers
2. If You Had Been There
Liquefaction
3. When the Ocean Rolls
Convection
Generating a Tsunami
Tsunami in a Tub
4. Earthquake Messages
Pressure Waves
Shear Waves
The Speed of Waves
Wave Reflection
Wave Refraction
The Strength of Water
5. How Strong Was It?
Build a Seismometer
A Pendulum
Another Pendulum Experiment
The Seismograph
6. From Myth to Science
The Shaking Experiment
Making Predictions
Mapping the Risk
7. Can Animals Predict Earthquakes?
8. Should We Fight or Fool the Quakes?
A Push-Pull Demonstration
A Bending Demonstration
Isolation
Building on Pads
A Pendulum Isolator
9. The Smoking Mountains
A Spewing Volcano
Another Volcanic Eruption
Build a Cardboard Volcano
A Smoking Volcano
Geothermal Energy
Conclusion
Appendix: Important Earthquakes, Volcanoes, and Tsunamis
Resources
Index
Preface
We expect many things to move, but not the earth!
How could the earth, which is strong enough to support a skyscraper, shake and break up? Where do earthquakes come from? Are we ever going to know when and where they will hit? And could we ever learn to build structures capable of withstanding earthquakes?
Many years have passed since humans first experienced earthquakes. Over time, we have learned answers to most of these questions—but not all of them.
The book is built around projects, demonstrations, and simple experiments that make it easy and fun to develop a physical understanding of earthquakes and their natural relatives—volcanic eruptions and tsunami waves. You will enjoy working on most of these projects alone or with a friend; for a few, you may want to ask a parent or an older sibling or friend to help you. In either case, you will have a good time and also learn a lot about earthquakes, volcanoes, and tsunamis.
We hope you will enjoy reading this book as much as we did writing it, but above all, we hope that you will never meet face-to-face with an earthquake, an erupting volcano, or a tsunami.
NOTE: Although English units of measurement (feet, pounds, etc.) are still commonly used in the United States, almost all the other countries in the world have adopted a measurement system called the metric system or SI. This system is taught in our schools and is the official measurement system of our federal government. For these reasons, all the measures in this book are given first in metric units, then in the equivalent measures in English units.
1
The Secrets of the Earth
We all live on the surface of the earth, but did you ever wonder what goes on beneath the surface, deep inside the earth, deeper than the deepest mine? No human being has ever been down there, but earth scientists have been able to learn a lot about what it’s made of and what goes on inside the big sphere on which we live. And at the same time, their discoveries have helped to explain much of the mystery of how earthquakes happen and volcanoes erupt.
Imagine that the earth is like an apple or a peach and consists of a skin, a meaty
part, and a core or pit. The core of the earth is solid metal (iron and nickel) surrounded by hot liquid metals. The meat
of the earth, the mantle, is a hot, somewhat soupy mass of melted rock called magma. The skin of the planet is its crust, the hard surface of the earth on which we live.
The crust is not equally thick all around the earth. It is as deep as 40 kilometers (25 miles) under the surface of the continents and as thin as 5 kilometers (3 miles) under the ocean floor.
Until recently the crust was assumed to be solid rock, but discoveries have shown instead that it is cracked into separate sections called tectonic plates. Some of them are so large that they determine the boundaries of entire continents or oceans—one of the plates supports all of the United States, and the whole Pacific Ocean sits on another. Other sections are smaller, supporting only part of a continent or a small group of islands, like the plate under the Caribbean.
The Cracked Egg
In this experiment you will use a boiled egg to simulate the behavior of the tectonic plates on the earth’s surface.
You’ll Need
adult helper
cooking pot
water
egg
spoon
clock or timer
Put enough cold water in a pot to cover an egg. With the help of a parent or other