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Teaching and learning about Earth Forces is challenging for both teachers and
students, as some teachers may not go into sufficient depth on the subject in a manner
that allows for students to find relevance in the material. With Science 10 now being
provincially examinable, there is even more reason to provide methods by which students
can actively find meaning in the topic of Earth Forces.
So, I’ve included a nifty activity called Virtual Earthquake, which I’ve used with
my classes and introduced to colleagues in the past few years. All that is needed is about
2-3 days of lab time and computers that can run Java effectively in a web browser. The
idea behind this activity is for students to learn the various forms of earthquake waves,
and use them to triangulate earthquake epicentres and determine the magnitude of an
earthquake. This activity is very hands-on and best done in collaborative groups of no
more than three students. As you’ll see in the ensuing assignment, having students take
screen shots of their work is a great way to collate and submit data reports to the
instructor. The virtual earthquake assignment is an excellent replacement for traditional
bookwork and paper-labs presented in the Science Probe 10 textbook. If you’d like to
look at a webquest made incorporating the Virtual Earthquake assignment, follow this
link. The file is zipped and rather large, but represents a complete webquest with
multimedia you can use to teach the earthquake unit. This was a project myself, Anita
Toneatto, and Stacey Volk produced in another course.
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (LZW) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Teacher’s Guide to the Virtual Earthquake Assignment
Confirming Success
The Virtual Earthquake is an earthquake simulation program that enables students to
generate earthquakes, determine wave lag times, calculate amplitude, and use these
factors to determine the epicenter and magnitude of an earthquake.
To successfully complete this assignment, follow the directions below. A videobased tour has also been provided at this location  click.
Step 1  In a standard web browser, go to
http://www.sciencecourseware.org/eec/Earthquake/
Step 2  The student begins by triggering an earthquake
Step 3  The student records the difference in arrival times for the P & S waves using by
positioning the mouse in front of the P-Wave. While holding down the mouse button, the
student drags the colored-slider until the distance from the beginning of the P-wave
touches the start of the S-wave. The student records the time displayed. Three stations
must be mapped.
It is best for students to choose stations experiencing strong waves, shown by large
waveforms, as seen below.
HAVE THE STUDENT PRESS THE PRINT SCREEN BUTTON, THEN PASTE THE
SCREENSHOT INTO MS WORD TO PROVE THE STEP WAS COMPLETED.
Step 4  Clicking on the distance calculator button takes the student to sliding scale.
Given the S-P lag time recorded above, the student clicks on the red bar indicating time
below. While holding down the mouse button, the student slides the scale until the time
is matched with what is seen above. The vertical axis provides the distance of the
earthquake from the recording station and should be recorded in the “Distance” box, to
the right of the S-P box.
HAVE THE STUDENT PRESS THE PRINT SCREEN BUTTON, THEN PASTE THE
SCREENSHOT INTO MS WORD TO PROVE THE STEP WAS COMPLETED.
Step 5  To determine the amplitude of the quake, the student positions the mouse in the
middle of the wave and drags the mouse cursor up. This creates a measure of the
amplitude of the wave in mm. This accurately measures the movement of the
seismogram at the recording station.
The amplitude of each recording station should be calculated this way.
HAVE THE STUDENT PRESS THE PRINT SCREEN BUTTON, THEN PASTE THE
SCREENSHOT INTO MS WORD TO PROVE THE STEP WAS COMPLETED.
Step 6  To determine the magnitude of the earthquake, a sliding scale is used. For each
station, the student slides the left scale until the distance and amplitude for each station
are shown correctly. The Richter Magnitude of the earthquake is read from the
centerline.
HAVE THE STUDENT PRESS THE PRINT SCREEN BUTTON, THEN PASTE THE
SCREENSHOT INTO MS WORD TO PROVE THE STEP WAS COMPLETED.
Step 7  Mapping the Epicenter
The student successfully maps the epicenter of the earthquake by clicking and dragging
outward from each station. A circle is created as the student drags the mouse cursor, and
a distance in kilometers is displayed. The maximum size of the circle should match the
Distance measurement recorded in the table below.
HAVE THE STUDENT PRESS THE PRINT SCREEN BUTTON, THEN PASTE THE
SCREENSHOT INTO MS WORD TO PROVE THE STEP WAS COMPLETED.
The intersecting point of the three earthquakes will be the epicenter.
Step 8  Calculate the location of the epicenter (latitude/longitude). The student clicks
on the globe button, which facilitates the display of the grid below. The student’s
estimate of the epicenter is recorded below in terms of latitude and longitude. The
second input box (ex. 34.7) records the fractional data for each measurement.
HAVE THE STUDENT PRESS THE PRINT SCREEN BUTTON, THEN PASTE THE
SCREENSHOT INTO MS WORD TO PROVE THE STEP WAS COMPLETED.
Step 9  Successful completion of the activity is confirmed when the student clicks on
the “Verify Answers” button shown above. The following is then displayed
HAVE THE STUDENT PRESS THE PRINT SCREEN BUTTON, THEN PASTE THE
SCREENSHOT INTO MS WORD TO PROVE THE STEP WAS COMPLETED.