SCIENCE 10A

1ST QUARTER

GROUP #: 3 SECTION:10-Biophysicists SCORE:____________________

DATE OF EXPERIMENTATION: August 26-27 DATE OF SUBMISSION OF WRITE UP: August 28

Name: Task:

Ang, Joshua Andrei

Posadas, Raphael Jose Distance and finding the epicenter

Islam, Sayful Ramos Question 4 (part 1)

Orajay, Danieljhon David Question 5 (part 2) and cited references

Bautista, Jada Questions 1-3 (part 2)

Nunez, Bianca Danielle Conclusion

Figueroa. Keisha

LAB ACTIVITY NO. 1

FINDING THE CENTER
I. INTRODUCTION
An earthquake releases three types of seismic waves; Primary (P-waves), Secondary (S-waves), and
Long surface waves (L-waves). The first two travel into the Earth’s interior while the last one on the surface.
These waves travel at different velocities; thus, do not arrive at a seismic recording station at the same time.
The farther the recording instrument is from the focus, the greater the difference in the arrival time will tell us
the distance of the earthquake’s focus from the seismic recording station. However, it does not tell in which
direction it came from.
If we have at least three recording stations that can tell how far away from the earthquake occurred, the
epicenter can be determined using the triangulation method. It uses distance information from three seismic
stations to locate the earthquake epicenter. On a map, circles are drawn around each seismic station. The radii
of the circles are scaled to the estimated distance from the station to the earthquake. The three circles will
intersect at one point that locates the earthquake.

II. OBJECTIVE: At the end of the activity, you should be able to:
a. locate the epicenter of an earthquake using the triangulation method.

III. MATERIALS
Hypothetical records of earthquake waves
Philippine map
Drawing compass and ruler/ protractor

IV. PROCEDURE
1. Study the data showing the difference in the arrival time of P-wave and S-wave on three seismic recording
stations. 6pts.
Recording Station Time difference in the Distance of epicenter from
 arrival time of P-wave and the station (km)
S-wave (seconds)

Mamburao 39 487.5km

Puerto Princesa 32 400km

Surigao 36.5 456.25km

2. Compute the distance of the epicenter from each of the stations using this
formula: d = Td x 100km
8 seconds
Where: d = distance (km)
Td = time difference in the arrival time of P-wave an S-wave (seconds)
**This formula is suited because 8 seconds is the interval between the times of arrival of the P-wave and
S-wave at a distance of 100km.
3. Choose one of the recording stations and measure the computed distance on the map scale (the scale
of the map found at the next page is 1.5cm to 2cm: 200km). Set your compass for that computed
distance.
4. Center your compass on the station you have chosen. Draw a circle.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for the rest of the stations. You should get three circles that intersect at a point.
This intersection is the epicenter. (10pts)
 Photo Credits: Springer.com

(Online image) (2021). The Philippine Map. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-25401-8_2

1. Where is the epicenter of this hypothetical earthquake? 3pts
- The epicenter is located between Central Visayas and Western Visayas.
2. What difficulty will you encounter if you only have data from two recording stations? 3pts
- The exact location of the epicenter would be too vague and wide to know.
In the previous activity, the hypothetical earthquake happened locally, that is why we use the formula
stated in the procedure. But, if the earthquake took place at a far greater distance, seismologists use the
distance-time graph similar to the figure below in determining the location of the epicenter.

Photo Credits: CMA.com (Online image) (2021). Tsunami Warning System.

http://stream2.cma.gov.cn/pub/comet/Environment/TsunamiWarningSystems/comet/tsunami/warningsystem/print.ht

m The distance-time graph above shows that the S-P interval is about 10 minutes.

3. What is the distance of the epicenter from the seismic station? 3pts
- The distance of the epicenter from the seismic station, according to the graph, is 9,000 km.
4.

What do you think is the importance of determining the epicenter of an earthquake? 3pts.

- Determining the epicenter of an earthquake is important so that we can do the needed actions
to save people and to let people know where the dangers are to avoid accidents or injuries.it's
also important to know where it is to help engineers/architects plan on where to build
structures in that particular area.

5. Which type of waves do you think were useful to seismologists in their study of the Earth’s interior?
Explain your answer. 3pts

- According to the readings on earth's earthquakes, they release three types of waves which are
primary waves, secondary waves and long surface waves. Long surface waves, only being able
to travel through the surface of the earth, renders it impossible to use to study the earth's
interior. As for primary waves and secondary waves, which are also called body waves since
they can travel through the interior of a body such as earth’s inner layers, allowing for studies to
be conducted on the earth’s interior. Scientists use the distance time graph in which it measures
how quick these two waves travel the same distances. The results show that primary waves
travel the ground faster which would make it more efficient to use primary waves. Given these
recorded details, seismologists most likely used primary waves and secondary waves to study
earth’s interior, and likely used primary waves for more efficiency.
CONCLUSION 5pts
Throughout this activity we have learned to locate the epicenter of an earthquake using
the triangulation method. Despite facing the challenge of locating the exact location of the
epicenter by using this method we have found out that the location of the epicenter is found
between Central Visayas and Western Visayas. Then, by using the distance-time graph we get
the idea that the distance of the epicenter from the seismic station is 9,000 km. We then add to
our knowledge by learning that the data suggest that primary waves travel the ground faster
than secondary waves, making primary waves more efficient. Seismologists most likely
employed primary and secondary waves to examine the earth's interior based on these
recorded characteristics, albeit primary waves would have been preferable because it would
have been faster.

REFERENCES (APA format, at least five) 5pts

O'Donahue, K. (2021, August 28) How to Calculate Epicenter. sciencing.com

https://sciencing.com/calculate-epicenter-6921621.html.

Sethi S. (2016, April 15) How to Find the Epicenter of an Earthquake. kqed.org
https://www.kqed.org/quest/136760/how-to-find-the-epicenter-of-an-earthquake

Triangulation to Locate an Earthquake (n.d.) usgs.gov

https://www.usgs.gov/media/images/triangulation-locate-earthquake

Earthquakes: seismic waves (2018) sms-tsunami-warning.com https://www.sms-tsunami-

warning.com/pages/seismic-waves#.YSm1Fo4zZPY

Travel-time Curves: How they are created (2020) iris.edu

https://www.iris.edu/hq/inclass/animation/traveltime_curves_how_they_are_created