Seismometers for use in schools
Detecting the minute vibrations caused by earthquakes that happened thousands of kilometres away with a simple piece of equipment sitting in your own school creates a 'wow' moment for students — and sometimes staff as well. The instruments required to do this are surprisingly simple — and some can even be made by teachers in a school workshop.
School seismometer systems using Amaseis software for datalogging and analysis
The SEP seismometer system is a horizontal seismometer that uses electromagnetic induction to detect ground motion (velocity) and eddy current damping.
Available from MUTR for £445 + VAT.
Over 400 of these instruments have been purchased since 2007.
- Download the manual for the SEP Seismometer system
The Rockwave VS1 is a compact, vertical motion seismometer, designed for education and the keen amateur intending to set up a home observatory. As a vertical instrument it is almost insensitive to ground tilt. The electronics are integral, the mechanics are visible, and the capacitance displacement sensor can be examined by removing the end cap. The VS1 is compatible with AmaSeis and is also supplied with a full manual and software utilities in Basic.
Available from Rockwave for £526.
Rockwave are not VAT registered
US schools use a vertical seismometer design, the AS-1
This instrument is not marketed in the UK however the design is very simple and could be easily replicated in a school workshop
Semi-professional seismometers
Guralp Systems are the world's largest manufacturer of professional seismometers.
They also make a version for use in schools. The Guralp CMG-EDU system includes an EDU-V vertical broadband seismometer and CD24E1 compact digitizer, with a robust GPS unit for timing.
This uses the same force feedback technology to detect ground motion as professional seismometers and produces calibrated data with GPS synchronised time stamps that can be used by researchers around the world.
The system costs approx £1000 per unit and is in use by three schools in the UK.
Strong motion detectors
Many consumer electronics goods now use microchip MEMS accelerometers to detect motion e.g. iPhones, Wii controllers and 3D mice. These MEMS accelerometers can be used to detect ground motion. At the moment they are not sensitive enough to detect signals from distant earthquakes, however if an event happens nearby the data that they record can be quite useful.
MEMS accelerometer options
Basic MEMS accelerometer with USB interface such as the JoyWarrior24F8.
iPod touch and iPhone have several applications which turn the devices into a seismometer.
Apple laptops have an accelerometer built into them which can be used as a seismometer — SeisMac 2.0
The Quake-Catcher network makes use of computers fitted with either inbuilt accelerometers (Apple laptops or IBM Thinkpads) or PCs with JoyWarrior USB accelerometers to act as strongmotion seismometers. A background process monitors activity from the accelerometer. Each time an event is detected the results are collected by the Quake-Catcher control centre at Stanford University. This is effective for measuring the large signals from nearby earthquakes on thousands of home computers.
