The seismic wave has a p and an s component. The s wave is the shear portion, and it speaks to the uplift or dropping of the surface area being affected. This wave travels out like a wave over the surface of water. The p wave is a pressure wave that travels out like a sound wave from a speaker. There is a huge difference, however. With sound, the air is being compressed in front of the speaker, while with a quake, ground is being compressed. The compression wave travels MUCH faster in a solid than in a fluid like air. The p wave in a seismic event will travel almost twice as fast as the s wave, and that means that the s wave will arrive at a seismographic sensor later than a p wave.
The P waves vibrate very quickly out from the epicenter first in all directions, in a circular way passing the station.The S waves then vibrate out from the epicenter a few seconds later and cause the sideways shaking of the land as they pass the station.The P wave then reflects off the core of the Earth and bounces back past the station, followed by the S wave a few seconds later because both waves reflect off the earths core back to the epicenter.
P waves, also called primary waves, are the first waves to be registered on a seismograph. The S waves, or secondary waves, are the second and slower wave to register on the seismograph. When locating an earthquakes epicenter seismologists take the first reading of the P wave, and then take the reading from the S wave. At the station of where the earthquake was recorded, seismologists draw a large circle from where the earthquakes epicenter could be. TO exactly located the earthquakes epicenter there needs to be at least 3 dfferent staions where the earthquake hit to determine its epicenter using the S and P time interval.
The seismogram shows that P waves travel faster than S waves, as they are the first waves to arrive at the seismograph station after an earthquake occurs. P waves are compressional waves that can travel through solids, liquids, and gases, whereas S waves are shear waves that can only travel through solids.
Primary waves are called so because they are the first to arrive, and secondary waves are called so because they arrive second. Based on this logic I would say no. There is in fact a marked difference, which is used to tell how far away the epicenter is from a particular seismograph.
P waves travel faster than S waves and arrive at seismographs first. By measuring the time difference between the arrival of P and S waves at a seismograph station, scientists can calculate the distance of the earthquake epicenter from the station using the known speed of these waves through the Earth's interior.
It would take about 5-7 minutes for the primary or P-waves to reach a seismograph station in Miami, Florida from Seattle, Washington. These waves travel faster than secondary or S-waves, which would arrive a few minutes later.
The P waves vibrate very quickly out from the epicenter first in all directions, in a circular way passing the station.The S waves then vibrate out from the epicenter a few seconds later and cause the sideways shaking of the land as they pass the station.The P wave then reflects off the core of the Earth and bounces back past the station, followed by the S wave a few seconds later because both waves reflect off the earths core back to the epicenter.
The primary waves (P-waves) are the first to reach a seismograph after an earthquake. These waves are faster than other seismic waves and can travel through both solid and liquid materials.
p waves and s waves
P waves, also called primary waves, are the first waves to be registered on a seismograph. The S waves, or secondary waves, are the second and slower wave to register on the seismograph. When locating an earthquakes epicenter seismologists take the first reading of the P wave, and then take the reading from the S wave. At the station of where the earthquake was recorded, seismologists draw a large circle from where the earthquakes epicenter could be. TO exactly located the earthquakes epicenter there needs to be at least 3 dfferent staions where the earthquake hit to determine its epicenter using the S and P time interval.
SiesmographEarthquakes generate seismic waves which can be detected with a sensitive instrument called a seismograph. Advances in seismograph technology have increased our understanding of both earthquakes and the Earth itself.Perhaps the earliest seismograph was invented in China A.D. 136 by a m an named Choko.How Do I Read a Seismogram?When you look at a seismogram, there will be wiggly lines all across it. These are all the seismic waves that the seismograph has recorded. Most of these waves were so small that nobody felt them. These tiny microseisms can be caused by heavy traffic near the seismograph, waves hitting a beach, the wind, and any number of other ordinary things that cause some shaking of the seismograph. There may also be some little dots or marks evenly spaced along the paper. These are marks for every minute that the drum of the seismograph has been turning. How far apart these minute marks are will depend on what kind of seismograph you have.Figure 1 - A typical seismogram.So which wiggles are the earthquake? The P wave will be the first wiggle that is bigger than the rest of the little ones (the microseisms). Because P waves are the fastest seismic waves, they will usually be the first ones that your seismograph records. The next set of seismic waves on your seismogram will be the S waves. These are usually bigger than the P waves.Figure 2 - A cross-section of the earth, with earthquake wave paths defined and their shadow-zones highlighted.If there aren't any S waves marked on your seismogram, it probably means the earthquake happened on the other side of the planet. S waves can't travel through the liquid layers of the earth so these waves never made it to your seismograph.The surface waves (Love and Rayleigh waves) are the other, often larger, waves marked on the seismogram. They have a lower frequency, which means that waves (the lines; the ups-and-downs) are more spread out. Surface waves travel a little slower than S waves (which, in turn, are slower than P waves) so they tend to arrive at the seismograph just after the S waves. For shallow earthquakes (earthquakes with a focus near the surface of the earth), the surface waves may be the largest waves recorded by the seismograph. Often they are the only waves recorded a long distance from medium-sized earthquakes.
P-waves, which may also be known as primary (as they arrive travel faster than other types of seismic waves and so are recorded on a seismometer first) or pressure waves as they propagate by the compression of matter.
The seismogram shows that P waves travel faster than S waves, as they are the first waves to arrive at the seismograph station after an earthquake occurs. P waves are compressional waves that can travel through solids, liquids, and gases, whereas S waves are shear waves that can only travel through solids.
Primary waves (P waves) arrive at a seismograph first. Then, Secondary waves arrive. Lastly, Surface waves occur and cause the most damage.
Primary waves are called so because they are the first to arrive, and secondary waves are called so because they arrive second. Based on this logic I would say no. There is in fact a marked difference, which is used to tell how far away the epicenter is from a particular seismograph.
The Pressure wave is a longitudinal wave - it is a compression/rarefaction wave and has the highest velocity.The Secondary wave is a transverse wave (side to side) and is much slower.
No, surface waves are typically the last seismic waves to arrive at a seismic facility. They travel more slowly than body waves (P and S waves) and arrive after the initial shaking caused by the faster body waves.