SEISMIC WAVES and

TRAVEL-TIME CURVES
GROUP 6 – 6GP1
Table of
Contents
INTRODUCTI
ON
↬ Seismic waves are elastic waves
caused by earthquakes. The seismic
waves that travel through the Earth’s
interior or otherwise known as the P
and S waves are mechanical waves
that require a medium that it will
travel through. Though they are both
mechanical waves, S waves cannot
travel through a liquid medium unlike
Statement of
the Problem
✏ This experiment aims to
characterize the
relationship between the
distance and the time of
travel of the seismic
waves. It seeks to answer
the following:
❶ Is there a difference in the
velocity of the waves ?
✦ Experiment 1
⤷ There is no difference between the
velocities of the p-waves and s-waves.

✦ Experiment 2
⤷ The speed of the waves is not affected by
the obstacles in each layer.
Analysis and
Discussion
Gathering our materials, we
started doing the 1st
experiment and collected the
needed data we need to fill up
the table provided by our
teacher
 The Time It took the Seismic Waves to Travel a certain distance
35

30
After doing the experiment one 31

25 and getting our results we 24

Time (in seconds)

20 decided to use a line graph in 19

15 order to compare 14 the difference of

15

10 both seismic waves9

in terms of
5
their velocities
0
0
0m 10m 20m 30m
Distance

s-wave (walking) p-wave (running)

This graph shows the time it took the p-

waves and s-waves to travel a certain
distance (without being blocked by
different materials
 10 10 10
m m m

Based on the 1st experiment, we found out

that the time it took for p-wave to travel a
10m, 20m, and 30m distance is shorter
compared to the time s-waves travel at a
certain distance (10m, 20m, 30m)
Experiment two is almost the same,
we need the walkers and runners to
travel a certain distance and record
the time it took for them to travel
each distance, with the only
difference is that there are
“obstacle” in their path
 The Time It took the Seismic Waves to Travel a certain distance
35
31
30

25 24
Time (in seconds)

20 19

15
15 14

10 9

5
0
0
0m 10m 20m 30m
Distance

s-wave (walking) p-wave (running)

This graph shows the time it took the p-

waves and s-waves to travel a certain
distance with being blocked by different
materials
 10 10 10
m m m

On the second experiment, we found out that

the time it took p-waves and s-waves to travel
the same distance(10m, 20m, 30m) was longer
due to the fact that they're are obstacles on
the p-waves and s-waves path
Conclusion
P- waves and S- waves are
body waves that propagate
or travel through the earth’s
interior. P –waves travel
faster than S – waves on
average because the
Table of
Contents
Thank you for listening