The sheer destructive power of earthquakes has always held a fascination for children. This project capitalises on this natural interest by making use of earthquakes and seismology as a unifying theme to teach a range of basic science concepts. The school seismology project was started by the British Geophysical Association (BGA) in 2007 and enables schools to detect signals from large earthquakes happening anywhere in the world.

The School Seismometer

The SEP Seismometer System was developed by a partnership of the Gatsby Science Enhancement Programme (SEP), the British Geological Survey (BGS) and Middlesex University Teaching Resources (MUTR).

SEP seismometer

It uses the same basic principle underlying all seismometers, which is that of inertia –seismic waves from an earthquake make the ground move relative to the recording device. In the case of the SEP seismometer, there is a large mass on the end of a boom: this stays where it is as the ground moves beneath the seismometer, and this relative movement is recorded by the Amaseis software on a PC connected to the seismometer.

The Magnitude 7.9 Sumatra Earthquake

At 17:16 (local time) on the 30th September 2009 a large 7.9 magnitude earthquake struck close to the city of Padang, the capital of the Western Sumatra province. The earthquake was so powerful that it brought down hospitals, schools, shopping malls, cut power lines, triggered landslides and killed more than 1,000 people. The energy emitted from the earthquake travelling as seismic waves were recorded by seismometers across the globe, including seismometers at schools in the UK.

The magnitude 7.9 Sumatra earthquake recorded by seismometers at schools in the UK

The School Seismometer Project at the University of Liverpool

In 2009 the Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences at the University of Liverpool purchased 5 SEP seismometers. One of the seismometers is set up here at the University of Liverpool in the Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, while the remaining seismometers have been deployed at schools in the area:

1. • Blue coat School, Liverpool
   

2. • Carmel College, St Helens
   

3. • Skipton Girls’ High School, Skipton
   

4. • William Hulme’s Grammer School, Manchester
   

SEP seismometer at the University of Liverpool

If you are interested in obtaining a seismometer for your school and you are in the local area please email us.

To see some recent earthquakes recorded on the seismometer in the Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences please click here

For more information about the school seismometer project and instruments already deployed in the UK/world please visit the BGA school seismometer website.