🔬 Science Max - EARTHQUAKES - Home Experiments 🌎

Summary

Phil demonstrates how to build a shake table to simulate earthquakes and test building designs. He shows building towers with blocks, explaining triangle shapes and cross braces help resist shaking. He discusses liquefaction, where ground turns to liquid during quakes, sinking buildings. Busta Beaker makes earthquake-proof cookie buildings on different 'soils' to show building materials and ground type impact resistance. The script explains earthquakes' causes and seismometers that measure shakes. Experiments let viewers understand quake behaviors and engineer solutions.

Takeaways

• 😊 The video teaches how to build a 'shaker table' to simulate earthquakes for experimenting and testing building designs
• 😮‍💨 Modern buildings in earthquake zones are designed to withstand shaking using special engineering
• 👷‍♂️ Triangular shaped towers with wide bases and cross braces are more stable in earthquakes
• 🌋 Soil liquefaction during earthquakes turns ground to liquid, causing buildings to sink
• 😀 Wafers and gelatin can be used to model buildings on different 'soils' in an earthquake
• 📏 A simple seismometer to detect earthquake direction can be made from cups, clay, a pencil and a ball
• 😊 Kids are encouraged to design building shapes and test on the homemade shaker table
• 🔬 The video teaches the science behind earthquakes and why shaking occurs
• 🏗️ Engineers learn how to build earthquake resistant buildings through testing and models
• 🤓 Science experiments help us understand natural phenomena like earthquakes

Q & A

What causes earthquakes?

Earthquakes happen when two plates on the earth's surface rub together and it causes the ground to shake.

How can you simulate an earthquake?

You can simulate an earthquake by building a shaker table using two books, elastic bands, and rubber balls. Put the elastic bands around the books and place the balls in between. Then build a tower on top using blocks.

What shape of building is most stable in an earthquake?

Triangles are very stable shapes for buildings in earthquake zones. A wider base and cross braces make triangle shaped buildings more resistant to shaking.

What happens during soil liquefaction?

During an earthquake, the shaking causes water to rise up through the soil. This turns the soil to liquid temporarily, causing heavy objects like houses to sink. The soil then re-hardens with buildings stuck.

How can you tell which direction an earthquake came from?

You can build a simple seismometer using cups, clay, a pencil, and a ball to detect the direction of shaking from an earthquake.

Why do modern buildings in earthquake zones not collapse?

Modern buildings in earthquake zones are specially designed to withstand shaking. Engineers use triangles and cross braces to make the buildings stable.

What happened when the triangular tower was shaken?

When the triangular tower built with cross braces was shaken, it remained standing while previous square and flexible towers had collapsed.

What is soil liquefaction?

Soil liquefaction is when the shaking of an earthquake turns solid ground temporarily into liquid, causing buildings on top to sink into themud before the ground re-solidifies.

How can friends be used as a table?

With four friends, have each person face outward in chairs and lean back onto the knees of the person behind them. This distributes everyone's weight through the chair legs to make a table.

How did the different buildings withstand shaking?

The crisp wafer cookie buildings on chocolate street remained standing after shaking but the gelatin buildings on vanilla street collapsed, showing the impact of different soil foundations.

Outlines

00:00

😲 Building an Earthquake Simulator

The first paragraph describes how to build a shaker table to simulate earthquakes using books, elastic bands, and rubber balls. It explains how to attach a tower made of building blocks to the shaker table and shake it until it collapses to test its earthquake resilience.

05:01

🏗 Designing Earthquake-Resistant Buildings

The second paragraph discusses designing buildings that can withstand earthquakes. It explains how triangles provide stable structure and cross braces add support. A tower made using this design withstands vigorous shaking from the simulator.

10:03

🌊 Simulating Soil Liquefaction

The third paragraph demonstrates soil liquefaction using a plastic container filled with sand and a bit of water. A house model placed on top sinks when the container is shaken to mimic the effects of an earthquake turning soil to liquid.

Keywords

💡earthquake

An earthquake is a shaking of the surface of the Earth. It happens along fault lines when tectonic plates rub together underground. This causes the ground to shake violently. Understanding earthquakes is important so buildings can be designed to withstand the shaking. In the video, earthquakes are simulated by building a shaker table to test different building designs.

💡shaker table

A shaker table is a device used to simulate earthquakes in a lab setting. In the video, a simple shaker table is made from books, rubber bands, and balls to shake model buildings. Testing building designs on a shaker table shows if they can withstand earthquake forces.

💡building design

Different building designs and shapes perform better or worse in earthquakes. Square and rectangle buildings tend to collapse more easily. Triangular shaped buildings with cross braces are more stable and resistant to shaking forces.

💡soil liquefaction

Soil liquefaction happens when water saturated soil loses strength and stiffness during earthquake shaking. It causes the ground to behave like a liquid, allowing heavy structures like buildings to sink into the ground. This is demonstrated in the video using sand and a model house.

💡tectonic plates

Tectonic plates are pieces of the Earth's crust and upper mantle that move slowly over time. Earthquakes typically occur along fault lines where tectonic plates meet and move against each other.

💡fault lines

Fault lines are cracks or fractures in the earth's crust where tectonic plates meet. The build up of pressure as the plates move causes earthquakes as the plates suddenly slip past each other along fault lines.

💡seismometer

A seismometer is a device that measures seismic waves from earthquakes. A simple seismometer is constructed in the video using cups, clay, a pencil, and a ball to demonstrate how it can detect the direction an earthquake came from.

💡seismic waves

Seismic waves are vibrations that travel through the earth carrying energy released during an earthquake. By recording seismic waves at multiple locations, seismologists can pinpoint an earthquake's epicenter and magnitude.

💡epicenter

The epicenter is the point on the Earth's surface directly above the underground source or focus of an earthquake. Seismic waves radiate out from the epicenter which is why its location is important for assessing earthquake impact.

💡magnitude

An earthquake's magnitude refers to the amount of energy released. Magnitude is quantified on various scales such as the Richter scale. A higher magnitude means more energy was released, resulting in greater shaking and damage at the Earth's surface.

Highlights

Build a shaker table to simulate earthquakes using books, elastic bands, and rubber balls

Triangular structures with wide bases and cross braces are most earthquake resistant

Soil liquefaction happens when water rises through sand, temporarily turning it liquid

Buildings on solid ground withstand earthquakes better than those on shaky, wiggly soil

Seismometers measure earthquake vibrations to detect direction

Make a seismometer using a pencil, paper cups, modeling clay, a ball, and tape

The ball on the homemade seismometer falls in the direction an earthquake is simulated

Modern buildings in earthquake zones are designed to withstand shaking

Earthquakes happen when tectonic plates rub together, shaking the ground

Ask an adult what to do for safety during an earthquake if you live in an earthquake zone

Test different tower designs on the shaker table to see which withstands shaking best

Heavy weights on towers require stronger earthquake resistance

Soil re-hardens after liquefaction during an earthquake, trapping sunk structures

Friends can be used to make an impromptu table by leaning on each other's legs

Cooking structures out of different materials simulates building on different soil types

Transcripts

greetings science maximites my name is

phil and this is science max experiments

at large today we're going to be looking

at earthquakes

earthquakes

huh

today we're going to be looking at how

to build something

that was supposed to happen earlier

today we're going to be looking at how

to build something that stands up to the

shaking of an earthquake

earthquakes happen when two plates on

the earth's surface rub together and it

causes the ground to shake

it causes the ground to shake sometimes

it shakes a little sometimes it shakes a

lot chances are you do not live in a

place that has earthquakes but if you do

ask an adult what to do during an

earthquake so you can be safe

modern buildings that are built in

earthquake zones are designed to

withstand the shaking but how do

scientists and engineers build a

building that stands up to the shaking

of an earthquake

[Music]

well that's what we're going to be

looking at today first thing we have to

do is simulate an earthquake we're going

to build a shaker table and here's what

you need two books

two books four elastic bands and four

four rubber balls

oh wait

okay

four four rubber balls all right so the

first thing you do is actually take your

four elastic bands

and

wrap them around your books put one set

on one side one set on the other side

until you have that

then you take your four balls and you

stick them in between the books

in the middleish

area but you don't want to have them too

close to the edges and now two at the

back and tada you've made your own

shaker table what are you shaking you

ask i will show you you build a tower

like this one here that i built out of

building blocks so here's what you do

you'll need your base to be securely

attached to the shaker table i use

painter's tape because it'll come off

again without harming the books and what

i want to find out is just how much

shaking this tower can take

before it falls apart ready

[Music]

and there it goes and when you've done

that what you do is you be a science

maximite and you design another tower

and you tape it down to your shaker

table and see if you can make this tower

fall down in an earthquake and if you

built it really well you probably won't

but you don't have to just use building

blocks there's all kinds of other

materials you can use check out this

building

which is really tall and you'll see

there's a cup at the top and that's for

a baseball

put it up at the top and that means

there's a weight up there and then we

shake it and we see what happens oh

no oh

there it goes having a big weight on the

top of our tower means we need something

that will resist the movement of that

weight

so now we're going to start with a

triangle unlike a rectangle triangles

are very stable a wider base keeps the

structure from swaying too much and

cross braces in the middle mean that

there are other triangles within our

triangle all the better to resist

movement

thank you

after ann and i built our tower we added

the weight to the top secured it to the

base and tried it out

okay here we go

[Music]

it's looking good no problem

not twisting

it's not even leaning not even creaking

no it looks really good wow this one is

really solid as you can see this tower

is way more solid than our square tower

or the flexible tower

okay look at that like if that's not an

earthquake i don't know what is look at

that look at the way the ground is

moving

i don't know if we can shake it much

more than this

faster

our triangular tower is up past a level

of shaking that made the other towers

collapse

now it's time to max out the shaking

there's only one

level of shaking that we can do above

this what's that we shake from either

side

we give it all we have the floor was

bouncing from side to side the tower was

tilting and was totally solid it's still

holding strong

in fact ann and i wore out before the

building showed any signs of falling

over

i think we've done it

nice

nice

science max experiments at large

earthquake proof building i mean come on

that was impressive i like it friend's

coming over and i don't have a table but

that's okay i will make a table using my

friends this is an awesome experiment

you can do with four friends come on in

science friends i've got sam

and dylan and polly here to help me so

everybody turn to your left and sit

sideways on the chair and then scooch

the chairs into the middle

and then everybody leans back onto the

knees of the other person

and then this is why i said you need

four friends because you need the fifth

person to remove the chairs

oh

the reason why this works is because

everybody's weight is being supported on

the legs of the person next to them

okay we're gonna rotate it in a circle

everybody okay ready here we go rotating

rotating oh science table

hey we're pretty good at this

okay oh

oh no oh no

[Laughter]

so there you go awesome way to make a

table using your friends well done well

done

science

[Music]

another thing that happens during an

earthquake is soil liquefaction

liquefaction means something turns to

liquid in this case the very ground you

might be standing on here's how you can

experiment with soil liquefaction all

you need is a plastic container and some

water not very much barely enough to

cover the bottom of the container

because what you're going to put in next

is

sand

and you want to put it in there and

spread it around

just add enough sand so it just starts

to turn dry on the very last layer

so here is a house that i'm going to put

on top and now i will simulate an

earthquake

the water rises up

and it sort of turns

to liquid

soil liquefaction

and heavy things like houses and cars

they tend to sink like that and then the

soil re-hardens

and everybody's houses are stuck in the

mud

[Music]

being a chef is my absolute passion and

cooking up science recipes is my

speciality i'm busta beaker and this is

cooking with science

oh hello welcome to cooking with science

i'm busta beaker my tuna fish and

meatball sub soup is coming along quite

nicely but what will we have for dessert

i know how about earthquake buildings

haha it's a building made out of wafer

cookies but the people on vanilla street

built in the gelatin neighborhood and

the people on chocolate street built in

the crispy rice part of town

exciting now here comes the earthquake

oh no oh it's shaking oh

the shaking has come and gone for the

people on chocolate avenue and their

building is still standing now let's

take a look over here on vanilla street

and here comes an earthquake oh no oh

dear looks like the people on vanilla

street are going to have to rebuild

their building because it's all fallen

over and being eaten

delicious buildings can be built the

same way but the kind of soil they sit

on make a large difference if there's an

earthquake shaky wiggly soil or solid

non-moving soil so there you go an

experiment you can try at home

delicious well i'm boston beaker and

thank you for joining me on this episode

of cooking with science now to try my

soup

[Applause]

seismometer in 60 seconds

learning how to predict and measure

earthquakes is an important branch of

science the earth is shaking but which

way did the earthquake come from it's

all about measuring the vibrations and

to do that you need

a seismometer all you need is a ball

some paper cups some modeling clay

a pencil and science tape which is the

same thing as invisible tape except i

use this tape for science first take

your pencil and stick it straight down

into the modeling clay then you take

your cups and you arrange them in a

circle and take the cups down and that

goes right in the middle just like that

now what you do is you take the ball

and you carefully balance it on the

pencil now you have created a

seismometer

it will tell you what direction an

earthquake came from watch i will be the

earthquake ready

did you see that the ball fell into the

cup facing the direction that i hit the

table and now i'm gonna hit the table

from over here

yep it fell in the direction that i hit

the table okay let's try from over here

there you go your very own seismometer

that you can use to measure earthquakes

that you create on the table