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) wave, and moved up and down on one end to create a shear (transverse) wave.
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