In this activity, students learn about the different types of seismic waves in an environment they can control. Using an interactive, online wave generator, they will study P waves, S waves, Love waves, and Rayleigh waves, and examine a combination of P and S waves that crudely simulates the wave motion experienced during an earthquake. A tutorial is provided to show how the wave generator is used. ... Full description.

This demonstration elucidates the concept of propagation of compressional waves (primary or P waves) and shear waves (secondary or S waves), which constitute the seismic waves used in locating and modeling earthquakes and underground nuclear explosions, and for imaging the interior structure of the Earth. The demonstration uses a slinky, pushed along its axis to create a compressional (longitudinal) ... Full description.

This teaching guide is designed to introduce the concepts of seismic waves that propagate within the Earth, and to provide ideas and suggestions for how to teach about seismic waves. The guide provides information on the types and properties of seismic waves and instructions for using the slinky to effectively demonstrate seismic wave characteristics and wave propagation. Most of the activities described ... Full description.

This teacher's guide is intended to provide suggestions on how to teach about seismic waves. It provides information on the types and properties of seismic waves and instructions for using some simple materials, especially the 'slinky', to demonstrate seismic wave characteristics and wave propagation. These activities can be performed by the students themselves, or as demonstrations by the teacher. ... Full description.

This set of animations, accompanied by an audio narrative, shows the four types of wave motion seen in an earthquake: P waves, S waves, Love waves, and Rayleigh waves. A brief written narrative and a set of study questions are also included. Full description.

These two programs are available for free download from this website. Also included is the technical information users might need to have the program running in the classroom, including how to update the database of earthquakes. Seismic/eruption is a program that plots the epicenter of all earthquakes within a time period, geographic region, and magnitude chosen by the user. This program also does ... Full description.

This site describes a demonstration of how the interference of seismic P (primary, compressional) and S (secondary, shear) waves cause standing waves such as surface waves in the Earth. The demonstration focuses on the P and S waves that are bouncing back and forth in the vertical direction in the Earth. Using a slinky, different frequencies are used to create different modes of standing waves. The ... Full description.

This laboratory activity demonstrates how seismic waves are generated and helps students understand how they can reveal the composition of Earth's inner layers. Students will construct models by filling shoe boxes with various materials, drop rocks on them to generate 'seismic waves', record the waves, and make observations about their differences. Full description.

The Slinky and Wave exercise is an interactive lecture that explains how to use a Slinky to demonstrate motion of P- and S-waves, wave reflection and standing waves. The demonstration is designed for use in an introductory geoscience course where wave properties are important such as geology, oceanography, or atmospheric sciences. The site includes teaching materials on P- and S-waves, standing waves ... Full description.

This tutorial provides information on the four types of wave motion seen in earthquakes (S, P, Love, and Rayleigh waves). A table accompanied by text describes their particle motion, typical veolcity, and other characteristics. The four animations show a rectangular block of material with outlined with grid lines and a filled-in grid square to highlight the particle motion and direction of propagation. ... Full description.