Seismic waves are the waves of energy caused by the sudden breaking of rock within the earth or an explosion. They are the energy that travels through the earth and is recorded on seismographs. There are several different kinds of seismic waves, and they all move in different ways. The two main types of waves are body waves and surface waves . Body waves can travel through the earth's inner layers, but surface waves can only move along the surface of the planet like ripples on water.
Earthquakes radiate seismic energy as both body and surface waves.
The first kind of body wave is the P wave or primary wave . This is the fastest kind of seismic wave. The P wave can move through solid rock and fluids, like water or the liquid layers of the earth. It pushes and pulls the rock it moves through just like sound waves push and pull the air. The windows rattle because the sound waves were pushing and pulling on the window glass much like P waves push and pull on rock.