Skip to main content
 

Connecting Earthquakes and Violins

The Science Teacher -- November 2005

Violins, earthquakes, and the "singing rod" demonstration all have something in common--stick-slip frictional motion. This article begins with a typical classroom experiment used to understand the transition between sticking and slipping, proceeds to a mechanical earthquake model that is truly "stick-slip" as scientists describe it, and progresses to acoustic examples of the same phenomenon in action. Other interesting cases involving frictional effects are described.
Asset 2