Table of Contents
- 1 Why can waves from earthquakes travel at different speed?
- 2 Why do body waves travel faster?
- 3 How fast do P waves travel?
- 4 How do R and L waves travel?
- 5 Does light travel faster in water or air?
- 6 Why didn’t the P waves arrive in each city at the same time?
- 7 Why do P waves travel faster than S waves?
- 8 Why do seismic waves travel at different speeds?
Why can waves from earthquakes travel at different speed?
At farther distances the amplitude of the seismic waves decreases as the energy released by the earthquake spreads throughout a larger volume of Earth. Also with increasing distance from the earthquake, the waves are separated apart in time and dispersed because P, S, and surface waves travel at different speeds.
Why do body waves travel faster?
P-waves and S-waves are body waves that propagate through the planet. P-waves travel 60% faster than S-waves on average because the interior of the Earth does not react the same way to both of them. The energy is thus less easily transmitted through the medium, and S-waves are slower.
What happens as waves travel faster and faster?
Because the earth’s mantle becomes more rigid as its depth below the asthenosphere increases, S-waves travel faster as they go deeper in the mantle….S-Waves.
| S-waves travel through materials with rigidity and density | |
|---|---|
| greater rigidity | faster S-waves |
| greater density | slower S-waves |
Why does the Arrive time difference become greater as distance increases?
As the P and S waves travel out from an earthquake the P waves get progressively farther ahead of the S waves. Therefore, the farther a seismic recording station is from the earthquake epicenter the greater will be the difference in time of arrival between the P and S wave.
How fast do P waves travel?
5 and 8 kilometers per second
At Earth’s surface, P waves travel somewhere between 5 and 8 kilometers per second (3.1 and 5 miles per second). Deeper within the planet, where pressures are higher and material is typically more dense, these waves can travel up to 13 kilometers per second (8.1 miles per second).
How do R and L waves travel?
– A.E.H. Love. The L waves travel along the surface of the earth from the point directly above the quake or epicenter. Love (L) waves are shear waves where the shearing (back and forth) motion, is confined to a horizontal plane at the Earth’s surface.
Which wave causes the most damage?
Surface waves
Surface waves, in contrast to body waves can only move along the surface. They arrive after the main P and S waves and are confined to the outer layers of the Earth. They cause the most surface destruction. Earthquake surface waves are divided into two different categories: Love and Rayleigh.
How fast do P-waves travel?
Does light travel faster in water or air?
Light travels faster in air than it travels in water water.
Why didn’t the P waves arrive in each city at the same time?
Why didn’t the P waves arrive in each city at the same time? Answer Expert Verified P-waves of primary waves originate from the epicenter. Since each city has a different distance from the epicenter, the p-waves will arrive at different times.
Which seismic waves have the fastest travel speed?
P waves travel fastest and are the first to arrive from the earthquake. In S or shear waves, rock oscillates perpendicular to the direction of wave propagation. In rock, S waves generally travel about 60% the speed of P waves, and the S wave always arrives after the P wave.
Which is faster P or S wave?
Why do P waves travel faster than S waves?
P-waves are compression waves that apply a force in the direction of propagation. As the interior of the Earth is almost incompressible, P-waves transmit their energy quite easily through the medium and thus travel quickly. On the other hand, S-waves are shear waves,…
Why do seismic waves travel at different speeds?
Think about the way the seismic waves travel through the Earth (different layers, how they vary), and explain why the waves arriving at more distant places travel at a higher average speed. ©2004 by Dave Robison and Steve Kluge
What kind of waves travel along the earth’s surface?
The first two wave types, P and S, are called body waves because they travel or propagate through the body of Earth. The latter two are called surface waves they the travel along Earth’s surface and their amplitude decreases with depth into Earth.
What is the frequency of a wave moving to the right?
The wave’s frequency is f = 1 T f = 1 T, as usual. The wave itself moves to the right in Figure 2. This movement of the wave is actually the disturbance moving to the right, not the water itself (or the bird would move to the right).