Arrive second at earthquake recording station. Can not travel through liquid or gas. Surface Waves Seismic waves that travel along the earth s surface. Most earthquake damage is caused by surface waves. Rayleigh waves - vertical, up and down motion.
Love waves horizontal, side to side motion.
An instrument for detecting and measuring ground motion. Difference in times of first arrivals of P waves and S waves is a function of distance from the focus. Triangulation using data from at least three seismograph stations allows location of the earthquake epicenter. A logarithmic scale that measures the amount of energy released during an earthquake on the basis of the amplitude of the highest peak recorded on a seismogram. The strength of Earth s rocks imposes a limit of about 9.0 and 9.5 on the Richter Scale.