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    What Are P and S Waves

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    eilluj otilob
    P and S waves are two types of seismic body waves caused by earthquakes. P waves arrive first, causing upward or downward motion, while S waves arrive second and cause more intense shaking. Both waves originate at the earthquake hypocenter but P waves are less destructive and travel faster than S waves.

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    What Are P and S Waves

    Uploaded by

    eilluj otilob
    53 views2 pages
    P and S waves are two types of seismic body waves caused by earthquakes. P waves arrive first, causing upward or downward motion, while S waves arrive second and cause more intense shaking. Both waves originate at the earthquake hypocenter but P waves are less destructive and travel faster than S waves.

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    What are P and S Waves

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    P and S waves are two types of seismic body waves caused by earthquakes. P waves arrive first, causing upward or downward motion, while S waves arrive second and cause more intense shaking. Both waves originate at the earthquake hypocenter but P waves are less destructive and travel faster than S waves.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    53 views2 pages

    What Are P and S Waves

    Uploaded by

    eilluj otilob
    P and S waves are two types of seismic body waves caused by earthquakes. P waves arrive first, causing upward or downward motion, while S waves arrive second and cause more intense shaking. Both waves originate at the earthquake hypocenter but P waves are less destructive and travel faster than S waves.

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    What are P and S Waves?

    Primary (P) and secondary (S) waves are two types of waves caused by earthquakes. They are defined
    based on when they arrive and are felt on the surface. P waves, or primary waves, arrive first while S
    waves, or secondary waves, arrive second. Both waves cause the ground to shake when an
    earthquake occurs. S waves cause more intense shaking than P waves and are typically much more
    destructive. Types of Waves: Mechanical Body Waves:
    P and S waves are mechanical body waves.
    A mechanical wave is a wave that must travel through a medium, such as the ground or air. The
    energy of a mechanical wave is transferred from one molecule to another as it propagates (or travels)
    through its medium. They differ from electromagnetic waves, which can travel through a vacuum.

    Types of mechanical Waves

     Sound Waves
     Water Waves
     Waves on a Spring
     Seismic (Earthquake Waves)
    A body wave is a type of seismic wave that moves through the Earth's interior. They differ
    from surface waves, which travel along the Earth's surface.
    Characteristics of Body Waves

     Move through deep layers of rock


     Have more energy than surface waves
     Arrive at seismometer location first
    Body waves are the first waves to be felt on the surface after an earthquake. Since they can move
    through deep layers of rock, they follow a shorter ray path than a surface wave. A ray path is the
    direction the wave follows as it propagates away from the locus (or origin) through the Earth.

    Cause and Origin of P and S Waves:


    P and S waves are caused by the initial rupture of an earthquake. The rupture occurs when two sides
    of a fault slip past one another and energy is released. The stored pressure then travels away from
    the hypocenter radially in the form of P and S waves. Thus, P and S waves both originate or begin at
    the earthquake loci , where ruptures first occurs at depth. The locus is different than the epicenter,
    which is the surface location of the earthquake.

    Primary Waves: What are P Waves?


    P waves are called primary waves because they are the first waves to arrive at any location after an
    earthquake.
    Characteristics of P waves (also known as Primary Waves)

     Compressional or lateral waves


     Arrive at seismometer first
     Cause upward or downward motion when they reach the surface
     Least destructive of all seismic waves

    P Wave Motion
    P waves are compressional. They vibrate parallel to the direction the wave is moving. The first upward
    or downward jolt felt is the P wave arrival.
    These can be created at home by using a spring or slinky with fixed ends. If one person gathers a few
    coils and compresses them at one end before releasing them, then a compressional wave will travel
    from one end of the spring to the other.

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