This document provides lesson objectives, keywords, and content about earthquakes and how they are measured. The key points are: - The lesson will teach students how seismic waves travel and cause damage, and how to evaluate and explain earthquake damage. - Earthquakes are measured using the Richter scale from 1-10 to indicate magnitude. Each whole number increase means the earthquake is 10 times stronger. - More damage occurs closer to the epicenter where the seismic waves are strongest. The Richter scale, seismographs, and other keywords are defined and linked to understanding earthquakes.

1. Lesson objectives:
Knowledge:
All will understand how
earthquakes are
measured.
Most will explain how
seismic waves travel and
the damage they can
cause.
Skills:
All will evaluate where
earthquake damage is
greatest and explain why
Some will research how
the damage from
earthquakes can be
managed

2. Keywords for today's lesson:
Epicentre
Focus
Seismic
Seismograph
Richter scale

3. Who?
What?
When?
Where?
Why?
How?

4. Let’s remind ourselves how
earthquakes happen:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/in_depth/nature_guides/swf/earthquake_aug09_466.swf

5. Most earthquake damage happens
near the epicentre
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/Epicenter.gif

6. How are earthquakes measured?
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0f/Kinemetrics_seismograph.jpg

7. • Complete the measuring earthquakes
worksheet using the key words
Key Words
Magnitude
Seismometer
Energy
Richter Scale
Image: http://pixabay.com/p-156000/?no_redirect
http://pixabay.com/en/users/OpenClips/

8. How are earthquakes measured?
1
2
3
4
6
5
9
8
7
10
Richter
Scale
The largest earthquake
ever recorded was in
Chile. It measured 9.5
on the Richter Scale.
The Richter Scale
This measures the magnitude
of a tremor (how powerful it
is) using an instrument called a
seismograph.
The Richter Scale is measured
on a scale from 1 to 10. It is a
logarithmic scale which means
that a size ‘6’ on the Richter
Scale is 10 times more
powerful than a size ’5’ and
100 times more powerful than
a size ‘4’.

9. The Richter Scale:
0 - 1.9
Can be detected only by
a Seismograph
2 - 2.9
Hanging objects
(lampshade) may swing
3 - 3.9
Comparable to the
vibrations of a passing
lorry
4 - 4.9
May break windows or
cause small objects in
your home to fall
5 - 5.9
Furniture moves, chunks
of plaster may fall from
the walls
6 - 6.9
Damage is caused to well
built structures and
severe damage to poorly
built structures
7 - 7.9
Buildings are displaced
from foundations and
there are visible cracks in
the earth
8 - 8.9
Bridges are destroyed
and few structures are
left standing
9 and over
Near total destruction
and seismic waves are
visible to the naked eye
(don’t worry, this rarely
happens!)

10. Where on the scale is it and explain your choice:
1. 2.
3. 4.

11. Explain in your
books in your
own words ...
What is the
Richter Scale?

12. A. B.
1. Will the vibrations be greater at A, or B? Why?
2. Will the damage be greater at A or at B? Why?
3. An earthquake can occur at any time of day. When might an earthquake do more
harm? At 5am OR b) at 10.30am Explain your answer.
Earthquake Damage Task Image adapted from: http://openclipart.org/image/300px/svg_to_png/59173/sydney-skyline.png

13. Plenary: Match up the correct keyword
with its meaning.
Earthquake the scale used to measure
the severity of earthquakes
Conservative Margin an instrument to measure
earthquakes.
Plate Boundaries a movement or tremor in the
earths crust.
Destructive Margin where two plates move
alongside each other.
Seismograph where two plates are
destroyed as they push
towards one another.
Richter Scale the centre point of the
earthquake on the earths
surface.
Epicentre a boundary between two
plates.