🔬 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.