Which of the following waves can travel through all the layers of the interior of the earth
Surface
Answers
Answer:
When an earthquake occurs, some of the energy it releases is turned into heat within the earth. Some of the energy is expended in breaking and permanently deforming the rocks and minerals along the fault. The rest of the energy, which is most of the energy, is radiated from the focus of the earthquake in the form of seismic waves.
Seismic waves fall into two general categories: body waves (P-waves and S-waves), which travel through the interior of the earth, and surface waves, which travel only at the earth’s surface.WHAT YOU’LL LEARN TO DO
Identify P-wave characteristics and behavior
Identify S-wave characteristics and behavior
Identify surface wave characteristics and behavior
Body Waves
Body waves travel through the interior of the earth. There are two types of body waves: P-waves and S-waves.
P-Waves
The P in P-waves stands for primary, because these are the fastest seismic waves and are the first to be detected once an earthquake has occurred. P-waves travel through the earth’s interior many times faster than the speed of a jet airplane, taking only a few minutes to travel across the earth.
P-waves are predominantly compressional waves. As a P-wave passes, material compresses in the same direction the wave is moving, and then extends back to its original thickness once the wave has passed. The speed at which P-waves travel through material is determined by:
rigidity—how strongly the material resists being bent sideways and is able to straighten itself out once the shearing force has passed – the more rigid the material, the faster the P-waves
compressibility—how much the material can be compressed into a smaller volume and then recover its previous volume once the compressing force has passed; the more compressible the material, the faster the P-waves
density—how much mass the material contains in a unit of volume; the greater the density of the material, the slower the P-waves