Home > Science Experiments > Earthquakes - Experiment 1 - Detecting an Earthquake: How can movement of Earth's crust be measured?

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Experiment 1
Detecting an Earthquake: How can movement of Earth's crust be measured?

Purpose/Hypothesis

In this experiment, you will construct a simple seismograph and simulate the forces that cause an earthquake. Your seismograph is a simple model, but you will see if it can detect vibrational activity in your house or building.

You probably have an educated guess about the outcome of this experiment based on what you already know about earthquakes. This educated guess, or prediction, is your hypothesisAn idea in the form of a statement that can be tested by observation and/or experiment.. A hypothesis should explain these things:

• the topic of the experiment
• the variableSomething that might affect the results of an...

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1. Introduction
2. There's a whole lot of shaking going on
3. Developing a theory
4. Measuring an earthquake
5. Experiment 1 - Detecting an Earthquake: How can movement of Earth's crust be measured?
6. Experiment 2 - Earthquake Simulation: Is the destruction greater at the epicenter?
7. Design Your Own Experiment