Violent_Earth



Earthquakes suddenly release a lot of energy deep underground. The energy is carried away by seismic shock waves which can travel inside the earth. One type of wave is the P-Wave this pushes the ground back and forth as it moves along. The P-Wave is a longitudinal wave.



The other type of waveshakes the ground from side to side. It is called an S-Wave and it is a tranverse wave. When they reach the surface, both of these waves can cause a lot of damage. S-Waves can travelthrough solids but not through liquids. P-Wave can travel through solids and liquids. Becasue P-Waves can travel across the liquid core of the earth and through all the layers of solid and liquid rock, they can be detected by seidmometers on the other side of the earth. P-Waves also travel faster than S-Waves