Unit 3 WebQuest - Internet
Project
| On Quake Anniversary, Japan
Still Worries |
 |
Introduction
| Task
| Process
| Guidance
| Conclusion
| Questions
Introduction
USA Today, January 16, 2001
As Japan marks the sixth anniversary
of the devastating Kobe earthquake this week, a different
seismic threat is worrying the country: Mount Fuji. Researchers
have measured a sudden increase of small earthquakes on the
volcano, indicating there is movement of magma underneath
its snowcapped, nearly symmetrical cone about 65 miles from
Tokyo.
In the past, there have been
only one or two tiny quakes under Mt. Fuji per month. But
in September, there were 35 - and that rose quickly to 133
in October and 222 in November. The number dropped to 144
in December.
The tremors during those three
months accounted for 30% of the quakes there in the past 20
years, said Koji Takada of the Central Meteorological Agency's
volcano division.
Nearby towns have decided to
hold a disaster prevention drill next summer. The volcano
last erupted in 1707.
Officials, however, say there
is no need to panic.
''There's no fear of an immediate
eruption,'' Takada said. ''There have been quakes, but we
haven't observed any change in the mountain's surface.''
The rumblings on Mount Fuji
come as Japan remembers the Jan. 17, 1995, earthquake that
devastated the western port city of Kobe, killing more than
6,400 people and wiping out hundreds of thousands of buildings.
They also coincide with the
Central American quake, which was still among top news stories
in Japan on Tuesday. The government announced that Japan will
give El Salvador $650,000 in emergency aid.
Kobe has largely recovered from
its earthquake. Destroyed city blocks have been rebuilt, roads
and train lines have been stitched back together, and most
of the temporary housing for the homeless is now empty.
One legacy of the quake is the
official campaign to strengthen the country's disaster preparedness.
In the Kobe quake, the government was widely criticized for
a slow response and poor emergency planning.
A survey by the national Yomiuri
newspaper published Tuesday showed that all of the 182 major
local governments have reviewed their disaster-prevention
and response plans in the aftermath of the Kobe quake.
The nationwide poll also found
that most have established measures to aid elderly and disabled
people, and set up systems for accepting volunteers.
But there were some holes. While
most parts of Tokyo and neighboring Yokohama have put together
new quake-response measures, no such plans have yet been drawn
up for the major cities of Osaka, Nagoya or Fukuoka, the survey
showed.
Lack of relief for people whose
homes are destroyed in a quake is also a concern. Many victims
of the Kobe quake are still bitter that while the government
moved quickly to rebuild highways and train lines, ordinary
people were left with the massive expense of building new
homes.
In an editorial Tuesday, the
Asahi newspaper called on the government to strengthen a national
plan to help such people out.
''Rebuilding homes of disaster
victims equates to rebuilding their lives,'' the Asahi said.
''If one element is missing, the other cannot be achieved.''
Mt. Fuji is not the only cause
of recent concern.
Two volcanoes in Japan erupted
last year on the northern island of Hokkaido and an island
off the coast of Tokyo. Also, a strong earthquake jolted a
southwestern region.
The activity has intensified
the long-standing expectation that Tokyo is in danger of a
devastating quake like the one that destroyed the city in
1923.
A geophysics expert at Tokyo
University warned on Monday that the evidence indicates the
country could be nearing a large-scale seismic movement.
''It looks like we are moving
into an active period in Japan,'' said Naoshi Hirata.
The Task
You plan to enter a science contest
that requires you to submit a research report on some type
of natural disaster. You have chosen to write a report on
earthquakes. If you prefer, the report can be published as
a Web page and displayed on the Internet for the judges to
review. You must choose one important earthquake on which
data is available. Your report (Web page) needs to contain
the following information:
- the name, epicenter, and date
for the earthquake you have chosen;
- a map of the location of your
earthquake relative to other countries, states, or areas
of the world;
- an explanation of how the epicenter
of an earthquake is located. Be sure to include any tables,
graphs, diagrams, or other information that is needed to
explain this process;
- an explanation of two measurement
scales used to classify earthquakes. You should also give
the measure of your chosen earthquake using at least one
of the scales.
You will get some ideas about how to complete your project
from the Exercises in the textbook in Lessons 8-3, 9-3,
and 10-1.
The Process
To successfully complete this project,
you will need to complete the following items.
Guidance
Here are some additional questions
and ideas you may want to consider for your project.
- What is a tsunami? How is it related
to earthquakes? What are the dangers of tsunamis?
- What was the economic impact of
the earthquake that you chose to study?
- How do people prepare for a possible
earthquake?
- Where in the U.S. are earthquakes
most likely to occur? Make a map graph showing the most
likely locations.
- How are cities changing building
standards to address the possibility of earthquakes?
- Can earthquakes be predicted and/or
prevented? What are researchers doing in the field of earthquakes?
Conclusion
Here are some ideas for concluding
your project.
- Present your project to your class
or at a family night.
- Present the information on a Web
page. Have other students critique your project and help
you to make improvements to your project.
- Interview a person who works in
researching or recording information about earthquakes.
Find out what mathematics this person needs to use in this
career.
Questions
Lesson 8—3
To pinpoint the epicenter of an earthquake, information is
often obtained from three different seismograph stations.
Circles are drawn with each station as a center. The point
where the three circles intersect is most likely the epicenter
of the quake.
- On grid paper, carefully draw
these three circles where each center is the location of
a station on a coordinate grid.
Circle 1: center at (0, 0); radius 3 units
Circle 2: center at (-6, 0); radius 4 units
Circle 3: center at (-2, -6); radius 4.25 units
What are the approximate coordinates of the intersection
of the three circles?
- Write an equation for each of
the three circles.
- Show that the intersection point
found in part a satisfies the three equations you wrote
in part b. (Your results probably will not be exact since
your measurements may have been slightly inaccurate, but
they should be close.)
Lesson 9—3
Primary and secondary seismic waves from an earthquake arrive
at different times at seismograph stations during an earthquake.
The table shows the arrival times for primary and secondary
waves relative to the distance that the station is from the
epicenter of the earthquake.
- On the same coordinate plane,
make two scatter plots of the data from the table.
- What type of function do you think would best model the
scatter plots? Find an equation to model each function.
- Find the difference between the
arrival of the secondary wave and the primary wave. Make
a scatter plot of distance (x-axis) and difference
in time (y-axis). What type of function do you think
would best model the scatter plot? Find an equation to model
the function.
- Compare the equations you wrote
for the scatter plots. Describe similarities and differences
between the three equations.
Lesson 10—1
The Richter scale describes the intensity of an earthquake.
It was developed by Charles Richter in 1935. The table shows
how the intensity of an earthquake increases as the number
increases.
- Use a graphing calculator to make
a scatter plot for the data in the table.
- Find an equation for an exponential
equation to fit the data.
|
