Science Inquiry
Name: _________________________________ Date: ______________
Bill Nye - Earthquakes
1. Every year there are _______________________ of
earthquakes all around the world.
2. The reason we have earthquakes is because the
Earth’s surface is really pretty
____________________________________.
3. Earth’s surface is floating on ________________ / _________________ rock.
4. Earth’s surface is broken into _________________
____________________.
5. The Earth’s surface is made of __________________________ plates that are floating
on molten rock.
6. As the plates move, the plate movement causes cracks, and the cracks are called
___________________________________.
7. The faults can store ____________________________ like a spring.
8. When energy stored in the plates is released, sometimes we get an ________________.
9. What happens when the shoebox with sand is pushed together? ____________________
10.What happens when the shoebox is pulled apart? _______________________________
11.Scientists measure movement of Earth’s surface with ___________________________,
(measuring shaking).
a. The record of the Earth’s movement made with this device is called a
__________________________________________________
12.Movement of lava makes small ___________________________________ happen.
13.When anything gets hot, the molecules get _________________ _________________
14.The “Way Cool Scientist” works in _____________________________
a. A normal earthquake is _________________ _________ __________________
that gets released as the rocks or ground ___________________________.
15.Consider the following:
a. Scientist not only feel earthquakes, they _________________________ them.
b. Scientists “connect the dots” to find the _________________ of an earthquake.
16.________________________ are used to help search for earthquake victims.
17.List 3 items you should have in an Earthquake kit: ______________________
______________________ ______________________ ( w o r d s n o t i n w o r d b a n k )
18.The __________________________________ Scale is a way to compare the size of one
earthquake with the size of another.
19.
An earthquake of magnitude 3 has _______________________ times the ground
motion of a magnitude 1, and it has a lot more energy.
WORD BANK
100
Big plates
Break
Dogs
Earthquake(s) (x2)
Epicenter
Farther apart
Faults energy
Flexible
Hawaii
Lava
Measure
Molten Liquid
Richter
Seismograph
Seismometer
Stored up energy
Tectonic
Thousands
“Earthquake Rumble”
Wow, now
Is that an earthquake?
Can feel the ground
When it starts to shake
It starts to roll and jerk me around
I hope that this building doesn't fall down
Rumble, rumble
An earthquake sure can make you humble
I wonder what's happening with the Earth's crust
Rawr, rawr
report that this trembler is an aftershock from the
earlier North Ridge quake.)
It's tryin' to bust
Into a new position
Now, listen
The plates are movin'
'Cause they're on a mission
It's all about a thing called plate tectonics
A fascinating feel when you're thinking of it
Reeur, reeur
Here's my guess, am I over or under?
6.0's pretty strong I figure
And 7.0 is ten times bigger
And this is what happens so I suppose
That's what you get when you're on the west coast
Oh god
The plates are movin' against each other
They make the ground shake so I suppose
That's what you get when you're on the west coast
(We've just gotten word that Southern California's
had another earthquake. Scientists at Nye Labs
Wow, now
There's an aftershock
Just when you thought they were gonna stop
And that's every earthquake, it never fails
People wanna know about the Richter scale
(How big? How big?)
What number?
(This latest aftershock is said to have registered
6.3 on the Richter scale. Scientists at Nye Labs
warned that more may be on the way. Science
rules.)
Answer Key
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
thousands
flexible
molten / liquid
big plates
tectonic
faults
energy
earthquake
mountain/hill
valley
seismometers
a. seismograph
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
earthquakes
farther apart
Hawaii
a. Stored up energy / breaks
Consider the following
a. Measure
b. Epicenter
dogs
answers will vary: water,
batteries, flashlight …
Richter
100