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What instrument do scientists use to measure earthquakes and other movements of the earth?
Wiki User
∙ 9y ago
A seismograph.
A longer answer
A seismograph or seismometer is one kind of instrument that is used to measure the effects of earthquakes. There are a number of different types of seismometers and they all work in slightly differing ways but generally are based around the same principle.
That principle is inertia. Inertia basically means that stationary masses will remain stationary until a force is applied to them. Conceptually a seismometer can be thought of as a weight or mass, suspended by springs in a frame which is bolted to the floor.
When an earthquake occurs the frame which is attached directly to the floor is caused to move by the seismic waves, however the mass / weight on the spring does not as the seismic waves do not directly affect it (their effect is dampened by the inertia of the mass and the springs). If you were to attach a pencil or pen to the weight and a piece of graph paper to the frame so that they were touching the movement of the frame relative to the stationary mass would be recorded.
Modern seismometers are much more complex than this but in essence rely on this principle.
During an earthquake there can also be substantial permanent ground deformations. As such, seismologists will attempt to measure the movement of the crust around a fault zone to estimate the total strain that has accumulated. This measurement is often made using high precision GPS to measure relative positions of surface features around the fault zone. They may also use terrestrial laser scanning equipment which can measure changes in the ground shape (recording deformation) or by using a special form of radar and a technique called synthetic aperture radar interferometry (InSAR for short). This process essentially involves the use of a radar to create a series of very accurate relief maps of the ground surface over time and then to compare the maps to create a final plot showing the changes between them which is a record of the land surface deformation.
They may also use strain gauges and tilt metres within boreholes to observe ground deformations as well as a technology known as time domain reflectometry which is an electrical technique used to locate damage and deformation in electrical cables and which in turn can be used to measure subsurface deformations.
Wiki User
∙ 13y ago
Wiki User
∙ 9y agowhat are the instruments that is used to measure the earthquakes
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What name is given to the instrument used to measure earthquakes?
A seismometer.
What kind of scientists measure the strength of an earthquake?
A type of geophysicist known as a seismologist measures the strength of earthquakes.
What measurements do scientists today use for earthquakes?
there hands
What is seismography?
Used to measure earthquake activity with sound waves.
What is a seismoscope?
VibrationsA seismoscope is an instrument used to measure vibrations of the earth's crust. Generally, scientists use these readings to predict when an earthquake will strike. They can also use this to measure the length and magnitude of an earthquake. More Information:The seismoscope is the earliest instrument; excluding people, puddles, and bowls of standing water; used to detect seismic events (movements or shifts within the Earth's crust, or earthquakes). Even the earliest known model (132 AD. Chinese, Zhang Heng) recorded the direction of these disturbances. Later models detected and indicated the direction, time, and crudely, the power of each disturbance. This instrument is rarely used by scientists today, having been replaced by a more sensitive, and more capable instrument, the seismometer. Both instruments should be distinguished from seismographs,which are the graphs of seismic activity, produced by the modern equivalents of these instruments.
What is the instrument used by scientists to determine the magnitude of the swell of the volcano?
seismograph is one instrument that could measure earthquakes and volcanoes etc but seismograph is many times use at earthquake!
What do scientists use to measure earthquakes?
Scientists use seismographs.
What do scientists measure earthquakes in?
the rictor scale
What instrument record earthquakes?
A seismometer is used to measure the strength of earthquakes.
What is the instrument that can measure the intensity of earthquakes?
A seismogragh and/or seismometer.
Which scientific instrument is used to predict or measure earthquakes?
The strainmeter, by which its seismometer component detects the vibrations or shock waves that its seismograph records, is the scientific instrument that's used to predict and measure earthquakes.
What does seismographmean?
A seismograph is an instrument used to measure the strength of earthquakes.
What instrument is used to measure the level of sound in earthquakes?
Seismograph
What is a sisemograph?
a tool used by scientists to measure earthquakes by movement
Instrument to study earthquakes?
A seismometer or seismograph will measure the amplitude and frequency of seismic waves which are produced by earthquakes.
What tool is used to measure an earthquake?
Scientists use a recording instrument called a seismograph to detect ground motions caused by seismic waves from earthquakes.
Are seismic waves and tsunami the same?
A seismograph is an instrument that records movements within the earth. A seismogram is the actual recording that scientists look at when studying earthquakes.
