Re: natural disasters,weather phenomena

[Hugh Haskell <hhaskell@mindspring.com>]

> > I am a senior math and physics education major at Fort Hays University
> > in Hays, KS.  I am currently doing my phsyical science practicum.  In
> > doing this practicum, I am working with a physical science lab at the
> > university.  The physical science class deals with general science
> > topics.  We have four enterprises covering aeronautics and space
> > transportation Technology, Human Exploration and Development of Space,
> > Space Science, and Earth Science.
> > 	Right now, I am developing a lab dealing with natural disasters,
> > weather phenomena, catastrophic occurrences, what ever you want to call
> > it.  In a previous lab, we are investigating Earthquakes, and I am
> > trying to find hands-on lab activities concerning this topic in general
> > for the classes to do (it will be used in all of the lab sections).
> > Thank you for whatever help you may give me.
> > 		Heidi Diercks
> > 		a845@scatcat.fhsu.edu
>
> Heidi,
>
> 	Buildings in high risk zones must be designed to take a beating
> when an earthquake hits. A couple factors to consider are how large are my
> earthquakes, and how tall is my building (how far up is the center of mass
> located). We can duplicate an earthquake simply by shaking a table or piece
> of wood so the driving is not a big problem. A building can be recreated by
> simply putting a mass (a solid sphere) onto a thin metal pole (of
> negligible mass  and =89 1/16").
> This pole is then inserted into a hole into a pice of wood. We now have a
> simulated center of mass for a building of some height. If we shake the
> board lightly the mass should react differently then if the board is shaken
> harder. Now try making a few "buildings" of different heights and see how
> they compare in different earthquake situations. This is just an idea and I
> would like to hear if you think it has any validity.
>
> 						Enjoy,
>
> 						Nils
>
> P.S. Great choice of major!!

Nils, I don't know what Heidi will think of your idea, but I think it is an
excellent one, especially as an open-ended project for young students.
There are lots of possibilities for invesitgation here: amplitude of
shaking, frequency of shaking, length and/or stiffness of the posts, mass
of the balls, relationship between stiffness of the supporting rod and the
mass of the ball, sudden shock or continuous oscillations. The list goes
on. The students could video-tape their experiments and put together a
presentation that could be quite dramatic. The students should research the
types of earth motions that have occurred during various historical
earthquakes, and then figure out how best to simulate them on the quake
table. They could also simulate various types of consturction that have
been designed to withstand earthquakes. A class could be broken up into
small groups, with each group investigating one aspect of the process and
then as the culmination of their project, they present their results to the
rest of the class.

It would certainly be useful if the students had spent some time studying
the phenomenon of resonance before undertaking this investigation, but not
in such depth that they could predict everyhting that would happen.

This idea has lots of possibilities. Heidi, I would like to hear what you
end up doing, whether or not it uses this scheme or not, and I suspect
others on this list would also.

Happy physics,

Hugh

Hugh Haskell
<mailto://hhaskell@mindspring.com>

Let's face it. People use a Mac because they want to, Windows because they
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