1. Science and Discoveries in Europe through the four elements - Earth
Project Comenius
Science and Discoveries in Europe through the four elements - Earth
Základná škola J. Lipského s MŠ Trenčianske Stankovce, Slovakia

2. What happens during the earthquake
Earthquakes are one of the most deadly forces of nature. They can occur any time anywhere and cause mass destruction and deaths.

3. What is an earthquake? Before the experiments the pupils could find it out thanks to their power point presentation. They learned a lot of facts about the earthquakes.

4. At first hey learned about the Earth’s tectonic plates and how they slowly move under, over or past each other.
An earthquake happens when two plates rub together. The plates travel in different directions and at different speeds. If one plate is slowly forced underneath the other,  pressure builds up until the plates rip apart. This process causes the ground to move. It is an earthquake.  

5. Tectonic plates experiment
1 Break a block of polystyrene (foam rubber) in half.
2 Put the rough edges of the polystyrene together.
While pushing the two pieces together lightly, push one piece away from along the table top while pulling the other piece.
The pieces seem to be stuck.

6. Soon a little bit of polysteren along the crack (the fault) broke and the two pieces suddenly slipped past each other.
That sudden breaking of the polysterene is the earthquake. That's just what happens along a strike-slip fault.

7. Most earthquakes begin deep underground at a point called the focus
Most earthquakes begin deep underground at a point called the focus. As the rocks shatter at the focus, shock waves called seismic waves radiate outward in all directions. The point on Earth’s surface directly above the focus is called the epicenter. This is where most damage occurs.

8. Seismology is the study of earthquakes.
A seismograph is an instrument used for recording the intensity and duration of an earthquake.
The size of an earthquake is measured according to its magnitude (the size of the shock waves and the energy produced) 4
Minor Earthquake 5
Moderate Earthquake 6
Strong Earthquake 7
Major Earthquake 8
Great Earthquake
Richter Scale

9. Earthquake experiment
Before shaking
Purpose
What happens to sandy or fine-grained soils when an earthquake shakes them up?
Hypothesis
The buildings will fall
What to do?
1 Fill the plastic pan with soil (sand)
2 Put the lego buildings into the soil
3 Shake the table

10. Results After shaking The buildings fell down.
The buildings put in the soil (sand) did not have any stability.

11. Experiments with buildings
Earthquakes can destroy buildings and other structures. Buildings that could withstand an earthquake would cause much less injury and death in an earthquake. Engineers have to build stronger, safer buildings that could resist an earthquake.
The pupils used LEGO buildings in this experiment.
Purpose
The purpose was to determine the effect of height on building stability during the earthquake.
Hypothesis
The hypothesis was that as building height is increased, building stability is decreased.

12. Before shaking
Results
The results of the experiment was that shorter buildings are more stabile than tall buildings. The height of a building affects its stability.
After shaking

13. Not only height of the buildings but also depth of foundations, length, width and other factors can influance the protection of the buildings in an earthquake.
Skyscrapers are built with deep foundations and flexible joints. The base isolator absorbs some of the vibrations and isolate the building from the earthquake pressure.

14. The girls tried paper models
Before shaking
After shaking
The building with large base did not fall
They predicted these houses will fall as the first

15. The girls also tested what happens with the furniture during an earthquake
Before shaking
After shaking

16. Tsunami experiment
All the children remembered the destructive power of tsunami waves in Japan last year.

17. A tsunami is a large ocean wave usually caused by an underwater earthquake or a volcanic explosion.
Tsunamis are not tidal waves. Tidal waves are caused by the forces of the moon, sun, and planets upon the tides, as well as the wind as it moves over the water. With typical waves, water flows in circles, but with a tsunami, water flows straight. This is why tsunamis cause so much damage.

18. Our tsunami simulation experiment
We used a plastic container as the ocean
On one side we created the coast with Lego city, gravels, trees.... The slope made of plastic board went up from the bottom of the wave tank and simulated the coastal shallows.
We filled the tank with water

19. We put another board as a „flap“ at the bottom of the tank
We put another board as a „flap“ at the bottom of the tank. It should to be just slightly smaller that the width of the tank.
We pulled the flap quickly to simulate the underground earthquake.
We watched the tsunami wave surge to the coastline.
The children could see how the tsunami wave effects the coastline.

20. Tento projekt bol zrealizovaný vďaka finančnej podpore Európskej komisie