The seismograph lab :)

For this lab, we had to make our own seismograph, that would actually work. I didn't really have a guiding question, I just wanted to make a seismograph that worked, and that would actually record some findings about seismic waves. So, I came up with a simple question, that was interesting to investigate, and that is: "Why is is important for the pen of the seismograph to be completely stable?". My hypothesis was that it needs to be stable for the findings to be clearer, and for the information to be more accurate, but I didn't think it played a big role in the overall productivity of the seismograph. Check out the sketch of the first design we thought of.

My partner was Sophie, but she was absent while I did the modifications, so Maria finished the experiment with me.

However, straight after we finished testing this type of seismograph, we realized that it wouldn't work, because, when the pen is dangling, it is not giving the proper results, because it is just writing all over the paper, which is supposed to be the only moving part of the seismograph. Weights are also placed at the wrong place, since they are just dangling, causing the pen to be unstable. We didn't knock the nail very well, and the two boards were a little bit crooked, and we realized that, that also severely affected the performance of the seismograph, so we decided to do something about that, too.

This is our new seismograph, with much of the corrections made. The chair is holding up the board, since it is very unstable (however, for our final version of the seismograph, we removed the boards all together, because we realized that we don't really need them). We moved the pen down, and we attached it to the chair, with two wires, and two strings. We attached the weights to the strings, with tape. Finally, the pen was stable enough, and it gave accurate results, once we moved the book that was under the paper. Underneath you can find the pictures of our final product.

The procedure

1. Firstly, we put boards together with a few nails. Then, with a string, we hanged the pen (with two weights).
2. We put a chair under the top board, to  keep it in place, and to prevent it from moving. We also put my pencil case under the board, to keep it even more stable.
3. To keep the pen from moving, and dangling, we put two strings and two iron wires around the pen, and around the chair.
4. We put the paper, under the pen, and moved the book that was placed under the paper, and that was supposed to represent the seismic activity. the faster you move the book, the stronger the power of the "earthquake" is. 

Based on your tests, decide how you could improve the design of you seismograph.

As I said above, we didn't have a very stable pen, and our results weren't very clear. The pen kept shaking, and going all over the paper. If I were to do this lab again, I would make the pen more stable in the beginning, so that I wouldn't have to waste time making modifications that could have been avoided.

Designing a Solution: How did you incorporate what you learned in Part 1 into your seismograph design in Part 2?

While I did Part 1 (Research and Investigation), I learned that you have to make the pen very stable, and the pen cannot move at all. Another thing I learned is that if you make the seismograph too complicated, you will get lost, and not have enough time to accomplish everything you wanted. So, you had to think about your design in terms of how much time you had, and what materials you were limited to.

Working with Design Constraints: What limitations did factors such as gravity, materials, costs,time, or other factors place on the design and functions of your seismograph? How did you solve these problems?

Out of the above, there were two limitations that we had. Firstly, we didn't have a lot of materials we could use, so most of the planning of the experiment actually consisted of improvising, and using what we had around us in the classroom to make a severely sufficient seismograph. Another obstacle we had was time. We had to make the seismograph over the course of 3 lessons, and that was challenging at times, because you got stressed, and you made pointless mistakes on the seismograph (like knocking the nails wrongly, and making the boards tilted).

Evaluation the Impact on Society: Why is it important for scientists around the world to have access to accurate and durable seismograph?

Seismographs are very important for every country, and they can save one country's economy, government, many lives, as well as important cultural artifacts and buildings. You should better be safe then sorry. Seismographs can give people the opportunity to save their lives, and evacuate themselves. By knowing the power of the earthquake, people have the ability to prepare themselves, and know what to bring when evacuated. 

My conclusion is that the pen needs to be stable in order for the seismograph to work, at all. Seismograph is a device used to detect earthquakes, by monitoring the arrival times of primary and secondary waves. When the ground moves, and the waves come, the paper moves, and it's movement is marked by the pen. All the high points on the paper, are where the earthquake was the strongest. All the lower points, or straight lines, are when the earthquake's strength wasn't as big. Underneath you can see the "seismic activity" that our seismograph recorded. :)