Study of Earthquake Measurement Devices: by Leoline Nesamithra I Mtse

Study of Earthquake
Measurement Devices
By
Leoline Nesamithra
I MTSE
Seismograph
A
seismograph is the device that scientists

use to measure earthquakes.
The goal of a seismograph is to accurately
record the motion of the ground during a quake.
If you live in a city, you may have noticed that
buildings sometimes shake when a big truck or
a subway train rolls by. Good seismographs are
therefore isolated and connected to bedrock to
prevent this sort of "data pollution.
The record obtained from a seismograph is
called a seismogram.
Working
The
vibratory motion produced during an earthquake

could be measured in terms of displacement, velocity
or acceleration.
A seismologist is interested in even small amplitude
ground motions (in terms of displacement) that
provides insight into the wave propagation
characteristics and enables him to estimate the
associated earthquake parameters.
As accelerations are the causative phenomena for
forces that damage structures (Force = mass x
acceleration), engineers are more concerned with the
earthquake causing structural damage, hence are
interested in acceleration measurement.
Working principle
The seismograph has three components the sensor, the recorder
and the timer.
The principle on which it works is simple and is explicitly reflected in
the early seismograph a pen attached at the tip of an oscillating
simple pendulum (a mass hung by a string from a support) marks on
a chart paper that is held on a drum rotating at a constant speed.
A magnet around the string provides
required
damping
to
control
the
amplitude of oscillations.
The pendulum mass, string, magnet and
support together constitute the sensor;
the drum, pen and chart paper
constitutes the recorder; and the motor
that rotates the drum at constant speed
forms the timer, Figure. By varying the
characteristics of equipment one could
record
displacement,
velocity
or
Working Animation
Horizontal Seismograph
Pen and Drum
Chang Heng's Dragon Jar
Around 132 AD, Chinese scientist

Chang Heng invented the first
seismoscope, an instrument that
could register the occurrence of an
earthquake.
Heng's invention was called the
dragon jar (see picture right). The
dragon jar was a cylindrical jar with
eight
dragonheads
arranged
around its brim; each dragon had a
ball in its mouth.
Around the foot of the jar were
eight frogs, each directly under a
dragonhead.
Water & Mercury

Seismometers
A few centuries later, devices using water
movement and later mercury were developed
in Italy. In 1855, Luigi Palmieri of Italy designed
a mercury seismometer.
Palmieri's seismometer had U-shaped tubes
filled with mercury and arranged along the
compass points.
When an earthquake happened, the mercury
would move and make electrical contact that
stopped a clock and started a recording drum
on which the motion of a float on the surface of
mercury was recorded.
Modern Seismographs
John Milne was the English seismologist and geologist

who invented the first modern seismograph and
promoted the building of seismological stations.
In 1880, Sir James Alfred Ewing, Thomas Gray and John
Milne, all British scientists working in Japan, began to
study earthquakes. They founded the Seismological
Society of Japan and the society funded the invention of
seismographs.
Milne invented the horizontal pendulum seismograph in
1880.The horizontal pendulum seismograph was
improved after World War II with the Press-Ewing
seismograph, developed in the United States for
recording long-period waves. It is widely used
throughout the world today.
The Press-Ewing seismograph uses a Milne pendulum,
Modified Mercalli Intensity

Scale
Although numerous intensity scales have been

developed over the last several hundred years to
evaluate the effects of earthquakes, the one
currently used in the United States is the Modified
Mercalli (MM) Intensity Scale.
It was developed in 1931 by the American
seismologists Harry Wood and Frank Neumann. This
scale, composed of 12 increasing levels of intensity
that range from imperceptible shaking to
catastrophic destruction, is designated by Roman
numerals. It does not have a mathematical basis;
instead, it is an arbitrary ranking based on
observed effects.
Richter Scale
The
Richter scale is a standard scale used to compare

earthquakes. It is a logarithmic scale, meaning that
the numbers on the scale measure factors of 10.
So, for example, an earthquake that measures 4.0 on the
Richter scale is 10 times larger than one that measures
3.0.
On the Richter scale, anything below 2.0 is undetectable
to a normal person and is called a microquake.
Microquakes occur constantly.
Moderate earthquakes measure less than 6.0 or so on
the Richter scale. Earthquakes measuring more than 6.0
can cause significant damage.
The biggest quake in the world since 1900 scored a 9.5
on the Richter scale. It rocked Chile on May 22, 1960.
Richter Magnitude Scale

The
Richter Magnitude Scale was developed in 1935 by Charles

F. Richter of the California Institute of Technology.
On the Richter Scale, magnitude is expressed in whole numbers
and decimal fractions. For example, a magnitude 5.3 might be
computed for a moderate earthquake, and a strong earthquake
might be rated as magnitude 6.3.
Because of the logarithmic basis of the scale, each whole
number increase in magnitude represents a tenfold increase in
measured amplitude; as an estimate of energy, each whole
number step in the magnitude scale corresponds to the release
of about 31 times more energy than the amount associated with
the preceding whole number value.
At first, the Richter Scale could be applied only to the records
from instruments of identical manufacture. Now, instruments are
carefully calibrated with respect to each other. Thus, magnitude
can be computed from the record of any calibrated seismograph.
References
(http://science.howstuffworks.com/e
nvironmental/earth/geophysics/quest
ion142.htm)
(http://inventors.about.com/od/sstart
inventions/a/seismograph.htm)
Thank
you

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Study of Earthquake

seismograph is the device that scientists

vibratory motion produced during an earthquake

Pen and Drum

Chang Heng's Dragon Jar

Around 132 AD, Chinese scientist

Water & Mercury

John Milne was the English seismologist and geologist

Modified Mercalli Intensity

Although numerous intensity scales have been

Richter scale is a standard scale used to compare

Richter Magnitude Scale

Richter Magnitude Scale was developed in 1935 by Charles

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