Who's Fault Is It?Team: 16 School: Aspen Elementary Area of Science: Earth Science
Interim: Team Number: 16
School Name: Aspen Elementary School
Area of Science: Earth Science
Project Title: Who’s Fault is it?
Problem Definition:
Our project is modeling the strength of the structural material of houses. We are making a basic model with Starlogo TNG which we will conduct tests on two blocks of different structural materials. These materials are adobe and wood.
Problem Solution/Progress to Date:
We have conducted a large amount of research through various web sites geared toward earthquakes. These sites have provided information on the locations that experience more earthquakes, the average sizes of earthquakes, and what kind of damage can be seen after an earthquake. We have also discovered that New Mexico experiences earthquakes with the most active area near Soccoro, NM.
We have developed two 3D blocks in StarLogo TNG. One block represents wood and the other adobe. We are currently in the process of creating a program that will choose a random number between one and seven which represents our pre-determined magnitudes.
The blocks will represent an interior wall that is 8 feet tall, 16 feet long, and 6 inches thick. This wall will be tested at different magnitudes of earthquakes.
After additional research we will pre-determine the type of wood and adobe mixture that will be used in our testing.
Expected Results:
After programming, testing, and refining this project, we hope to find out which material (wood, adobe, or maybe steel) is stronger and more durable. As we have discovered and has been shown: “Earthquakes have never caused a death but it was the poorly designed buildings that did.”
References:
1)Mike Salmon, Team Leader, Probabilistic Structural Mechanics
2)Downs, Sandra. When The Earth Moves. Brookfield, Connecticut: Twenty-First Century Books, 2000.
3)“Los Alamos-area historical earthquake activity” http://www.city-data.com/city/Los-Alamos-New-Mexico.html#ixzz0U9hlvcUp , October 2010
4)USGS National Earthquake Information Center, http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/neic/, Earthquake Lists & Maps, November 2010
5)New Mexico Tech, http://www.ees.nmt.edu/Geop/NM_Seismicity/, Seismic Activity and Risks in the Socorro Region of Central New Mexico, October 2010
6)USGS Parkfield Interventional EQ Fieldwork, http://www.allshookup.org/quakes/wavetype.htm, Types of Earthquake Waves, September 2010
Team Members: Talia Dreicer, Hunter Eaton, David Smith
Sponsoring Teacher: Zeynep Unal
Team Members: Talia Dreicer
Thomas Eaton
David Smith
Sponsoring Teacher: Zeynep Unal Mail the entire Team |
