Show how p and s wave data has helped us understand the structure and interior of the earth?

Question

Show how p and s wave data has helped us understand the structure and interior of the earth?

Answer 1

Analysis of the Earth’s internal structure is made possible because earthquakes produce vibrations called seismic waves. These waves travel through the interior of the Earth and can be measured with sensitive detectors called seismographs. Scientists have seismographs set up all over the world to track movement of the Earth’s crust.

Seismic waves are divided into two types: Body waves and surface waves. Body waves include P and S waves, and these are the two types of waves that are used to determine the internal structure of the Earth.

P waves are the fastest kind of seismic wave. A longitudinal P wave has the ability to move through solid rock and fluid rock, like water or the semi-liquid layers of the earth. It pushes and pulls the rock it moves through in the same way sound waves push and pull the air.

S waves are the second wave you feel in an earthquake. An S wave is slower than a P wave and only moves through solid rock. This wave moves rock up and down, or side-to-side.

Because P waves are compression waves, they can move through a liquid. However, S waves cannot move through a liquid. This is because a liquid is not rigid enough to transmit an S wave. S waves travel more slowly than P waves and, again, S waves cannot travel through a liquid.

Waves can reflect off (bounce off) of materials that have a different density, or they can be refracted (bent) as they pass through a boundary between layers of different material. Scientists use the difference in arrival times of reflected and refracted waves from distant earthquakes to construct a picture of what the Earth’s interior looks like.

P waves and S waves have allowed scientists to determine indirectly the internal structure of the Earth. Because these waves travel at different speeds through different material, they are also used to help determine the exact location of an earthquake (epicenter).

Answer 2

S waves cannot move through liquid, so the effects of the waves are different. It shows where the liquid in the earth's structure is.

Answer 3

Maybe you should pay more attention in class and do your homework yourself!