Question

Problem 16

Answer 1

Given information

Given:

How did geophysicists determine that part of the Earth’s interior is liquid?

Step-by-step explanation

Step 1.

Longitudinal and transverse waves are produced by a seismic event (earthquake). Because atoms and molecules may vibrate in any direction around their relatively fixed locations, both types of waves can pass through a solid material.

-waves are longitudinal or compression waves ( denotes pressure), whereas -waves are transverse waves (by the term shear).

 

Longitudinal waves have particles that travel in the same direction as the wave, compressing and expanding the rock in a sequential manner. Transverse waves, on the other hand, shake the particles in a direction that is perpendicular to their travel direction.

 

Transverse waves, unlike longitudinal waves, do not propagate through fluids because they do not encounter any restoring force and because the fluids are easily compressible. Only the longitudinal waves are observed diametrically on the Earth after the telluric event. Geophysicists were able to determine that a portion of the Earth's interior (nucleus) contains fluid or is liquid as a result of this process.

 

Even in the same medium, seismic waves move at various speeds. Longitudinal waves propagate faster than transverse waves, arriving at a seismological station first, and the time gap between the arrival of the -waves and the arrival of the -waves is a function of the distance between the station and the epicenter.