Bta30 Earthquake Research Activity!

BTA30 EARTHQUAKE RESEARCH

ACTIVITY! Scenario: You and a partner have launched a business which provides consultation for construction companies to best design their buildings to withstand earthquakes. Your client has asked to see research, provide some recommendations and excel charts outlining the findings of your research.

How to get started: In this activity, you will work with a partner to simulate earthquakes of different magnitudes online and see how they affect buildings. You will first choose the location and the magnitude of the earthquake. Then you'll examine the earthquake-proofing construction for your building and provide a report to your client. In the report you will chart your simulated data in Excel so that you can develop conclusions based on your findings. • Software: Microsoft Internet Explorer, Microsoft Office Excel, Microsoft Office Word • Ctrl + click to follow the links. Save a copy of the template to your network space.

1. Click the following link to launch the earthquake simulation Web site: http://dsc.discovery.com/guides/planetearth/earthquake/interactive/interactive.html. Use this Web site to discover where and how to create buildings that have better chances of surviving earthquakes. 2. Keep track of your data in the following Excel template: Simulating earthquakes (30 KB Microsoft Excel file). (Save a copy to your network space. Both partners will need to fill in this template) 3. Record your conclusions in a Word document. 4. Use the online simulator to simulate 8-10 different earthquakes. Change the locations of the buildings, the earthquake-proofing building constructions, and the magnitudes of the earthquakes. Make sure you keep track of your data in the Excel spreadsheet so that you can use the data to record your conclusions. 5. Discuss with your partner what you discovered. Think about the following: •Did you find that the location of a building makes a difference? •Did you notice if certain types of earthquake-proofing construction worked better than others? Did you notice how much the size of the earthquake affected the survival of the building? •Which charts in excel will best suit the data you collected? 6. Record your conclusions in a Word document. 7. Add your data from your Excel file to your Word document to support your findings. 8. Create 2 different types of charts to represent the data you collected. You may select the type of chart and colour scheme. Remember to save your work.

Hand in your completed to work to the hand in folder!