Determining Shallow Earth Structure
This activity is part of the On the Cutting Edge Peer Reviewed Teaching Activities collection.
HideSummary
This activity is intended to extend students' learning of fundamental physics concepts (e.g. reflection, refraction and transmission of energy) through a real-world application.
Learning Goals
Students will be able to:
- Identify the following elements of a seismic experiment: Angle of reflection, Angle of refraction, Headwave, Direct wave, Normal, Critical angle, Snell's Law
- Determine the depth of bedrock by analyzing a simple seismic section.
Context for Use
This activity is intended as a Extend Phase activity to provide students with a real-world application for the concepts of waves. This should follow an Explore/Explain phases activity, such as the traditional light lab that explains concepts included in this lab such as reflection, refraction and transmission of energy.