Could you please help me? How do seismographs work?
Thankyou
sesmographs
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Emily13295
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tdaly
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Re: sesmographs
Emily13295,
Welcome to the Ask an Expert forums! A seismometer is an instrument used to monitor the seismic waves produced by earthquakes, volcanoes, and many other events, both natural and manmade. A seismograph is a graph of seismic waves produced by a seismometer.
A basic seismometer is based on the principle of inertia. Are you familair with Newton's First Law of Motion? Newton's First Law of Motion says that an object remains at rest or constant velocity unless acted upon by a net unbalanced force. Basically, this law says that objects tend to keep doing what they are already doing: if they are not moving, they "want" to continue not moving, and if they are already moving they "want" to keep moving in the same way.
In a basic seismometer, there is a heavy weight suspended by a string and on the tip of the weight there is a pen. The weight is suspended just high enough above a rolling drum of paper that the pen on the end of the weight leaves a line as the roll of paper is moved beneath it. Because the weight "wants" to not move, the pen traces out the patterns of seismic waves (which you can think of as movement of the earth). As a simplified conceptual model, you can think of the earth as moving beneath the weight.
Of course, modern seismometers are much more complex than this; in fact, most record their data digitally and are based on other types of technology. If you want to learn more about how seismometers work, take a look at http://www.iris.washington.edu/edu/onep ... Pager7.pdf. It has a nice diagram that you will probably find helpful.
Best of luck on your project!
Welcome to the Ask an Expert forums! A seismometer is an instrument used to monitor the seismic waves produced by earthquakes, volcanoes, and many other events, both natural and manmade. A seismograph is a graph of seismic waves produced by a seismometer.
A basic seismometer is based on the principle of inertia. Are you familair with Newton's First Law of Motion? Newton's First Law of Motion says that an object remains at rest or constant velocity unless acted upon by a net unbalanced force. Basically, this law says that objects tend to keep doing what they are already doing: if they are not moving, they "want" to continue not moving, and if they are already moving they "want" to keep moving in the same way.
In a basic seismometer, there is a heavy weight suspended by a string and on the tip of the weight there is a pen. The weight is suspended just high enough above a rolling drum of paper that the pen on the end of the weight leaves a line as the roll of paper is moved beneath it. Because the weight "wants" to not move, the pen traces out the patterns of seismic waves (which you can think of as movement of the earth). As a simplified conceptual model, you can think of the earth as moving beneath the weight.
Of course, modern seismometers are much more complex than this; in fact, most record their data digitally and are based on other types of technology. If you want to learn more about how seismometers work, take a look at http://www.iris.washington.edu/edu/onep ... Pager7.pdf. It has a nice diagram that you will probably find helpful.
Best of luck on your project!
All the best,
Terik
Terik