Index ~~ Background ~~ Purpose ~~ Hypothesis ~~ Materials ~~ Earthquake Machine ~~ Modifications: Overlapping - Height - Buttresses - Base Isolators - Cross Braces - Roofs ~~  Resistant Buildings ~~ Problems ~~ Further Experimentation ~~ Bibliography

BUILDING THE EARTHQUAKE MACHINE

PROCEDURE

The plywood was cut into a square 61cm by 61cm and a piece 61cm by 120cm. Twenty-five 7.5 cm long compression springs were attached to the smaller plywood square using screw eyes and wood staples. Twenty-five evenly spaced holes were drilled into one half of the bigger piece of plywood.

       The bigger piece of plywood was put on top of the springs. Wire was pulled through each spring and through each hole in the plywood. Then it was tied around a bamboo skewer. The bamboo skewer was later removed and replaced with staples which held the wire more firmly in place. The wire was twisted through the staples and covered with duct tape. The machine was turned over.

      A Styrofoam sheet measuring 86cm by 62cm was screwed to the 61cm by 61cm sheet of plywood to make the testing area bigger.

      Handles were added to the sides of the top piece of plywood.  A line was drawn on the bottom  piece of plywood which was the farthest point that the top of the machine could be pulled back to.     

Inside the earthquake machine:

the compression springs

The earthquake machine

without Styrofoam top

CONCLUSION

It  was possible to design and build an earthquake machine that tested the stability of different buildings. The machine worked well because the data it gave was constant and patterns could easily be found.

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HYPOTHESIS

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MODIFICATIONS -OVERLAPPING BLOCKS