Earthquakes happen when rocks rupture or break when new or old faults slide, collide or move apart from each other. Stored elastic energy is released during these actions, forming heat and seismic waves. The point where rocks start to first rupture or form is called the hypocenter this is directly below the epicenter of an earthquake.
Energy is strongest at the hypocenter but dies out as it goes further away from the initial focus. These energy travel outward in a spiraling motion, at the same time, it produces seismic waves namely, body and surface waves.
Body waves have two parts, the P-Wave (Primary) and the S-Wave (Secondary). Energies in a P-wave travel in spiral motion away from the hypocenter in which push and pull motions are produced towards its direction. These waves travel at 6kmsec through liquids, solids and gasses. These waves are usually felt as bumps and rattle during an earthquake. S-waves on the other hand, are the second wave youll feel of an earthquake. They travel much slower than P-waves at speeds of around 3.5kmsec. Instead of volumetric changes inside the Earth, S-waves produce shapes from the focus. They displace particles in a perpendicular direction towards its motion of travel.
Surface waves are the waves that are more destructive to buildings compared to the body waves due to their motion at the earths surface. Rayleigh waves move along the surface of the earth in an ocean wave like manner, displacing at right angles towards their direction of travel. They die out as it gets further. The second type of surface wave is the Love wave which travels at the surface with snake like motion and displaces the earth horizontally. Love waves do not travel in liquid.
If I place myself in an earthquake, hearing the rattle and bumps will be the body waves in action, the violent rumble and shakes will be from the surface waves that follow. This is where we feel the quakes intensity. This will be more violent closer in the epicenter and decreases as it gets further away from the epicenter. I would feel horrified being near in the epicenter because a lot can happen for a very short time. However, this earthquake also affected San Diego California, even if the said location is nowhere within the epicenters radius. Fortunately, reports showed that there are no damages incurred at San Diego and they only felt the earthquake in a span of 20 30 seconds.
Energy is strongest at the hypocenter but dies out as it goes further away from the initial focus. These energy travel outward in a spiraling motion, at the same time, it produces seismic waves namely, body and surface waves.
Body waves have two parts, the P-Wave (Primary) and the S-Wave (Secondary). Energies in a P-wave travel in spiral motion away from the hypocenter in which push and pull motions are produced towards its direction. These waves travel at 6kmsec through liquids, solids and gasses. These waves are usually felt as bumps and rattle during an earthquake. S-waves on the other hand, are the second wave youll feel of an earthquake. They travel much slower than P-waves at speeds of around 3.5kmsec. Instead of volumetric changes inside the Earth, S-waves produce shapes from the focus. They displace particles in a perpendicular direction towards its motion of travel.
Surface waves are the waves that are more destructive to buildings compared to the body waves due to their motion at the earths surface. Rayleigh waves move along the surface of the earth in an ocean wave like manner, displacing at right angles towards their direction of travel. They die out as it gets further. The second type of surface wave is the Love wave which travels at the surface with snake like motion and displaces the earth horizontally. Love waves do not travel in liquid.
If I place myself in an earthquake, hearing the rattle and bumps will be the body waves in action, the violent rumble and shakes will be from the surface waves that follow. This is where we feel the quakes intensity. This will be more violent closer in the epicenter and decreases as it gets further away from the epicenter. I would feel horrified being near in the epicenter because a lot can happen for a very short time. However, this earthquake also affected San Diego California, even if the said location is nowhere within the epicenters radius. Fortunately, reports showed that there are no damages incurred at San Diego and they only felt the earthquake in a span of 20 30 seconds.
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