How to Make a Seismograph

By eHow Home & Garden Editor

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Experience an earthquake first hand and you will have a new understanding and appreciation for the awesome power lurking beneath the earth's surface. Instruments that allow you to visualize the tectonic movements beneath your feet can be an asset as well as a learning tool. Follow these simple steps to make a seismograph.

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Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

1/2-inch plywood
2-by-4 inch boards
2-by-2 inch board
3-inch decking screws
Drill
Heavy weight
Wood saw

Step1

Begin making your seismograph by gathering all the basic equipment you will need. You will also need some woodworking tools and the know-how to use them safely.

Step2

Fasten a heavy weight to a horizontal rod. The rod should dangle from something sturdy, like a pole. Visualize your arm holding a pen or pencil. Your elbow would be connected to a strong vertical post—your body. The pen will write when the ground beneath you shakes, causing your elbow and hand holding the pen to move with the shaking. This is the concept of the mechanism you are buildling.

Step3

Ensure that the rod is capable of swinging from side to side, when the earth is moving or shaking.

Step4

Attach an ink pen-—something able to write without the use of pressure-—to the opposite end of the rod. This should be on the side furthest away from the pole.

Step5

Place, underneath the pen, a roll of paper. This paper should be plentiful and attached to a moving cylinder or a roll.

Step6

Make a seismograph work by shaking the contraption; the pen will write on the paper. This is the basic element of how a seismograph works.

Step7

Study the effects of different tremors on your seismograph, to ensure it is working properly. When the ground shakes, the pen will create a zigzag pattern denoting the intensity of the quake.