Passage I
Earthquakes produce seismic waves that can travel long distances through Earth. Two types of seismic waves are p-waves and s-waves. P-waves typically travel 6-13 km/sec and s-waves typically travel 3.5-7.5 km/sec. Figure 1 shows how p-waves and s-waves move and are refracted (bent) as they travel through different layers of Earth’s interior. Figure 2 shows a seismograph (an instrument that detects seismic waves) recording of p-waves and s-waves from an earthquake. Figure 3 shows, in general, how long it takes p-waves and s-waves to travel given distances along the surface from an earthquake focus (point of origin of seismic waves).
5. According to Figure 2, which of the following statements best describes the relative amplitudes of the first p-waves to arrive at the seismograph and the first s-waves to arrive at the seismograph? The amplitude of the first p-waves to arrive at the seismograph is:
Your Answer is
Correct Answer is A
Explanation
Amplitude amplitude, as can be clearly seen from figure 2, the amplitude of first p-waves is not 0, but the amplitude of first s-waves is larger