Science Fair Project

1. Science Fair Project By: Paige Essig Mrs. Jernigan 02/11/10

2. Table Of Contents • Problem Statement • Hypothesis • Background Summary • Ind/DepVariables • Controls • Methods • Materials • Data Charts • Graphs • Observations/Pictures • Conclusions • Bibliography

3. Problem Statement When tsunamis hit the ground they cause a lot of disturbance underwater causing tsunamis. I want to learn and see what happens that causes the disturbance.

4. Hypothesis Hypothesis: If a tsunami is formed by an earthquake, it is because the movement of tectonic plates when they shift. Then it will vibrate the water causing a large wave deform that breaks over the continental shelf sometimes causing mass destruction. So when I hit the bottom of the pan filled with water, it will vibrate than the water will shift upward causing a tsunami wave.

5. Background Summary How do earthquake form tsunamis?My topic is “how does earthquakes form tsunamis?”. I want to know what physical features are effected by tsunamis, and the fault movement they cause.    What happens, is that when an earthquake lands in the ocean it sends elastic waves that causes shaking of the ground. From the source of the earthquake the seafloor has been permanently up lifted and dropped down, forcing the water to push up above mean sea level, it is then transferred to the horizontal propagation of the tsunami wave or (kinetic energy). The rupture  occurs at the base of the continental slope. The rupture may also occur under the continental shelf. After a couple minutes the initial tsunami is split into a tsunami that moves to the deep ocean. That is called a distant tsunami. A tsunami that travels near by the coast is called a local tsunami. The speed of the tsunamis varies as the square foot of the water depth. As the tsunami travels over the slope the amplitude increases, and the wave length decreases. This causes the leading wave to get more steep. The first wave that reaches the shore is called a trough. This is a sign of a tsunami. The deeper ocean tsunami has been able to travel much further because its speed is much greater than the local tsunamis.    Tsunami run up occurs when a peak in the tsunami wave travels from the near-shore region onto  shore .The measurement of height and water on shore observed by a reference point   in sea level is called run up. The largest tsunami was in 2004 in the Indian Ocean, it resulted in giant breaking waves. Most tsunamis come in strong fast moving waves, that inflict tons of damage upon shores . The destruction causes the massive currents and the floating debris.   Smaller numbers of tsunamis often form vertical walls of turbulent water called bores. Tsunamis often can travel farther in land than normal waves.    When they crash upon land tsunami energy is reflected back to the open ocean and scattered by sharp variations in the coastline.

6. Tsunami diagram

7. In/Deep Variables Variables respondent: movement of the water, and the damage to the town setting.( Dependent) manipulated: how hard you hit the pan. (Independent)

8. Controls Controlled: amount of water, materials used.

9. Methods Method When you have all of your materials in place have some one take a picture or video. Then you take the pan (because when an earthquake hits the water it sends s-waves and p-waves through out the ocean making the plate shift up causing the tsunami) and make one quick motion ,like almost flipping it  to demonstrate how the tsunami appears from the shift of the pan. Finally check all the positions from the reference pint to see the damage done to the village. On the camera it should show the shift of the water from the pan.

10. Materials MATERIALS •  a long piece of rectangular cardboard  • a pan of water • little figurines/plastic- to demonstrate what the physical effects of a tsunami can be • and a camera

11. Data charts Rounded to nearest whole number

12. Graphs 1ft.= 12in.

13. Observations/Pictures • When I tapped the bottom of the pan from the different amounts of water it caused different changes in the land.  As the waves moved along they traveled fairly quick. The waves were transverse, because as they moved out they were parallel.

14. Conclusions • The results of my project were correct to my hypothesis, the larger the amount of water and the impact from the tapping the more powerful the wave was, and the more damage it had created.

15. Bibliography • http://walrus.wr.usgs.gov/tsunami/basics.html • http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/earth/tsunami2.htmlhttp://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/earth/tsunami1.html • http://earthsci.org/education/teacher/basicgeol/tsumami/tsunami.html • http://www.windows.ucar.edu/earth/images/NOAA_quake_tsunami.jpg • http://www.geogateways.com/toolkit/ggimages/tsunami1.jpg • I got more research from an encyclopedia book labeled “T”.