Wednesday, February 27, 2008

fits in a suitcase

Apparently you can take it with you -- earthquakes, I mean. Last night at 12:57am, I awoke to feel that oh-so-familiar swaying. I didn't feel the P-wave, but I imagine that's what woke me up. Awww... a little touch of CA in the UK!

5 comments:

Ed said...

Just sending along a little reminder so you don't forget us!

meg said...

A friend posted on my Facebook page, "Meg, you ARE the earthquake that came to the UK!" That may be so, but I hardly think of myself as a 5.3.

Anonymous said...

Boy, you are really an earthquake connoisseur when you distinguish and divide the various waves and effects of an earthquake. From the article in the link, it appeared most of the Britishers had themselves firmly under the table. Cheers.

meg said...

Eh, I just took some geology classes as an undergrad. Besides, we all need to know about P waves and S waves (memorable as "primary" and "secondary," although that's not what they stand for, IIRC).

P waves are the sharp up-and-down shock that comes first. They travel much more quickly than S waves, which are compression waves and move more side-to-side.

We need to know this because the S waves cause most of the damage. So, if you feel a strong P wave and have your wits about you, you'll have time to take cover before the shit starts flying.

At least that's what I remember from undergrad geology. More knowledgeable people are invited to wade in.

Ed said...

...."Rocks for Jocks" as an undergrad, I would have never guessed!