Seismology

  • Computer simulation of wave reflection and transmission on string (normal-mode simulation of waves on a string with an internal boundary [Geller and Stein, 1978])
  • Light beams in a tank with a protractor back, containing air and water, display both Snell’s law (from the angles the beams make) and angle dependence of the reflection coefficient (from beams’ brightness).
  • Standard wave (ripple) tank demonstrations for basic wave propagation, and local variants including using the disk (from the moment of intertia demonstration) as a “core” about which diffractions can be seen.
  • Classic “Slinky” shows P and S wave particle motions
  • stretched rubber band shows the effects of the shear modulus and density on shear wave velocity
  • Finding room size with inexpensive electronic (acoustic) distance measurement device illustrates using travel times to infer structure
  • Video simulation demonstrates relation between seismic waves in the earth and specific wave phases (e.g. ScS) [Wysession and Shore, 1994]