Motion Equations

The s and p waves are both moving at a constant velocity. The following equations would be appropriate for this problem.

x = vt + x₀

∆x = vt

∆x = x_f − x₀

The s and p waves both start at the epicenter of the earthquake and travel to the seismograph. Therefore the change in position, ∆x, is the same for both waves. You can use ∆x = vt for each wave and then set ∆x_p=∆x_s, however you must remember that the two waves do not take the same amount of time to travel ∆x. To find the speed of each wave see experts- geophysicists.

Back to Experts