What’s Goin’ On In Room 133

Colleagues, I am sure that you have seen the news about the devastating earthquake that hit the island country of Haiti this week.   Sadly, many thousands of lives were lost because it hit a region where more than 3 million people live.  The full extent of this tragedy will not be known for a long time.  Homes, schools, churches, roads, bridges – so many things that we take for granted in life were completely destroyed in seconds and an untold number of families had their lives ripped apart.  This is a very painful time for anyone with family or friends in the area – please be mindful.

Earthquakes are a natural phenomenon on this planet and there is nothing in our power that can stop one from happening.  But wouldn’t it be a good thing if we could at least predict when one is going to happen?  So that at least we can take steps to warn others?  And wouldn’t it be a good thing to build homes and buildings that would not collapse if and when an earthquake does occur?  Well, engineers are studying those very questions – and Math is helping them find answers.

Hear from those who are working on this problem.

See the Presidential Palace before and after the earthquake.

A quick look at what we know so far!

Not your regular Weekend Word Problem, is it?  True.  Sometimes we need to take a moment and put things in perspective.  A lot of times we ask “Why are we studying this?”  This is one of those times when I can tell you that there is only one reason to study math and that is to DO SOMETHING WITH IT TO MAKE LIFE ON THIS PLANET A LITTLE BETTER!  It doesn’t matter what scale you succeed on, Colleagues – the real success is that you try!  

And now for our problem:  Scientists determine the epicenter of an earthquake by measuring the time it takes for surface waves to travel between two places.  Surface waves travel about 6 kilometers per second through Earth’s crust.  (The “quick look” above shows you what this is like.)  Let’s say the distance between Los Angeles and Phoenix is about 600 kilometers.  First, write a multiplication equation to find how long it would take surface waves to travel from Los Angeles to Phoenix.  Then solve the equation.