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Measuring an earthquake

In the first century, Chang Heng—a Chinese astronomer, mathematician, and writer—invented the earliest earthquake recorder. This device measured the occurrence and direction of an earthquake's motion. Italian physicist Luigi Palmieri has been credited with inventing the first seismographA device that detects and records vibrations of the ground. in 1855. Seismographs detect and record earthquake waves. To pinpoint how dangerous an earthquake was, American seismologist Charles F. Richter (1900–1985) began measuring the peaks and valleys of these waves in the 1930s. He came up with a mathematical formula, known as the Richter (pronounced RIK-ter) Scale, which measures earthquake magnitude on a scale from 1 to 10. The Richter Scale also measures how much energy is released in an earthquake. Increasing one whole number on the Richter Scale,...

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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