Earthquake!
Dive into plate tectonics and learn how to build a structure that can withstand multiple levels of earthquakes!
How do earthquakes happen? How do we design buildings so they can survive an earthquake? Students will explore these questions and more through a fun, hands-on design challenge.
What You Need
You will need a large classroom with desks arranged in groups of 2-4. You will need a table or counter to set up the Earthquake table on.
6-9 material kits of:
- 8cm x 8cm paper squares (4)
- 10cm x 2cm paper rectangles (12)
- 15cm x 2cm paper rectangles (12)
- Tape
Our earthquake boxes are 2 1⁄2 feet x 1 1⁄2 feet x 3 inches – do whatever works for you!
Large bolts are used for attaching the elastics.
To set up the table, flip the bottom of the box upside-down. Place the rubber balls in the corners and the top of the box on them. Use elastic bands to keep everything together.
Note: Each group gets one kit and tape, but can use no other materials. It is also important to specify to students that they must make 3 separate floors (not including the shake table as a bottom floor).
Guide:
What To Do
- Divide the group into teams (2-4 students per team)
- Each team receives a materials kit, a ruler, scissors and tape
- Have the team work together to build their structure using only what’s been provided. Set a time limit appropriate for the size of the teams, age, etc. 20-30 minutes of build time is normally sufficient.
- The only building rule: the structure must have three floors off the ground.
- When time is up, have the teams tape their structure onto the quake table, usually two or three buildings at a time. The winning building of each competition round can go on to a final round to determine the ultimate winner:
- Round 1: shake the buildings without any weight on them.
- Round 2: tape a roll of pennies on to one of the upper floors to represent the “stuff” in the building. Let the builders decide which floor they want to add the weight to. Shake the buildings.
- Round 3: add a roll of pennies to a second empty floor.
- Round 4: add a third roll of pennies to the final empty floor.
Discovery
Earth sciences is being demonstrated through teaching about plate tectonics and how they cause earthquakes. Then, physics is talked about by discussing properties and characteristics, such as triangles, that make building stronger.
It ties into the Grade 3 curriculum in Ontario, and shows how two concepts come together and why building planning is so important.
Does anyone know how we measure earthquakes? We can measure earthquakes in many ways: the energy released, the damage done, and the distance the plates moved along the fault. Each system has a scale. The most common ones are the Modified Mercalli Scale and the Richter Magnitude Scale. The Richter Scale measures the amount of energy released with each level ten times greater than the last. For example, level 2 is equivalent to 101 (10) and level 3 is equivalent to 102 (100). It is very important in studying earthquakes, but isn’t very helpful to the regular person. The Mercalli Scale uses damage caused and will change with location. Rock types act differently during earthquakes and energy disperses with distance from the focus.
Does anyone know of any important earthquakes? There have been several earthquakes throughout history that have been so destructive that they have shaped our society. Perhaps the most famous was in San Francisco on April 18th, 1906, where a 7.9 magnitude earthquake occurred 3 km offshore. It moved the Salinas River over 14 km south to a new outlet. After the earthquake, broken gas lines caught fire and broken water mains prevented firefighters from putting it out for days. Over 80% of the city was destroyed causing 9.5 billion dollars in damage today. This caused an estimated 3000+ deaths and left between 227,000 and 300,000 - half the population - to be homeless. More recently, Haiti was hit with a earthquake of magnitude 7.0 on January 12th, 2010, with many severe aftershocks. An estimated 3 million were affected with 230,000 dead, 300,000 injured, and 1 million homeless.
What's Happening?
Earth sciences is being demonstrated through teaching about plate tectonics and how they cause earthquakes. Then, physics is talked about by discussing properties and characteristics, such as triangles, that make building stronger.
Why Does It Matter?
It ties into the Grade 3 curriculum in Ontario, and shows how two concepts come together and why building planning is so important.
Investigate Further
Does anyone know how we measure earthquakes? We can measure earthquakes in many ways: the energy released, the damage done, and the distance the plates moved along the fault. Each system has a scale. The most common ones are the Modified Mercalli Scale and the Richter Magnitude Scale. The Richter Scale measures the amount of energy released with each level ten times greater than the last. For example, level 2 is equivalent to 101 (10) and level 3 is equivalent to 102 (100). It is very important in studying earthquakes, but isn’t very helpful to the regular person. The Mercalli Scale uses damage caused and will change with location. Rock types act differently during earthquakes and energy disperses with distance from the focus.
Does anyone know of any important earthquakes? There have been several earthquakes throughout history that have been so destructive that they have shaped our society. Perhaps the most famous was in San Francisco on April 18th, 1906, where a 7.9 magnitude earthquake occurred 3 km offshore. It moved the Salinas River over 14 km south to a new outlet. After the earthquake, broken gas lines caught fire and broken water mains prevented firefighters from putting it out for days. Over 80% of the city was destroyed causing 9.5 billion dollars in damage today. This caused an estimated 3000+ deaths and left between 227,000 and 300,000 - half the population - to be homeless. More recently, Haiti was hit with a earthquake of magnitude 7.0 on January 12th, 2010, with many severe aftershocks. An estimated 3 million were affected with 230,000 dead, 300,000 injured, and 1 million homeless.