Educational and citizen seismology

Plots most recent data from CWF

It has long been known that large crowds can generate seismic signals if they all move together, this can be dancing to a common  beat ( eg the Ska band Madness at the Reading Festival )  or crowds at sporting fixtures responding to events on the pitch ( eg the Seattle Seahawks and their BeastQuakes ) In Leicester during the 2015-2016 football season Leicester were performing beyond all expectations, the city was buzzing with excitement as Leicester reached the halfway point of the season as top of eth English premier League.   At this point students from Leicester University (wth help from the British Geological Survey) started an outreach project at a city centre primary school, Hazel Road, about 500m from the Leicester football ground, the King Power stadium. Over the course of the next few months Leicester went on to win the Premiership and the students from Leicester University and Hazel road primary school were there all along the way monitoring the seismic v...

Start with the hinge  Using a piece of 500micron card or plastic as a spacer  the hinge is made from double thickness of tape. Next the Armature is made  The spring is held tight between two 2x4 lego bricks  The hinge unit is added at this stage Finally the Base and completed assembly   The hinged armature is added to the base  The other end of eth spring is bent over and clamped between 2 1x8 lego bricks  Finally a weight is added so that the sensor is balanced and free to move

Building a lego seismometer Bill of materials Bricks 4 x 2x3brick 2 x 2x4 brick 2 x 1x12 brick 2 x 1x10 brick 2 x 1x8 brick 2 x 1x2 brick 1 x 2x8 brick 1 x 1x1 brick plates 4 x 2x6 plate 3 x 2x10 plate 4 x 1x6 plate 2 x 2x4 plate 2 x 2x3 plate 4 x 1x2 plate 2 x 2x2 plate 2 x 1x1 plate 2 x 4x6 plate 2 x 1x4 plate smooth plates 4 x 1x2 smooth plates Non-lego components 1 x spring steel leaf spring (25mm x 0.152mm x 150mm) 1 x 14mm diameter magnet 1 x 5mm diameter magnet 2 x 20mm x12mm adhesive tape (eg kaptan 0.03mm, or packing tape ) 1 x coil (1200turn  22mm id 10mm high) 1 x spacer 0.5mm thick for assembly 1 x 3mm thick 50x50mm square steel washer Instructions... there are two seperate lego parts which are hinged together with the thin tape acting as weak flexures.  The leaf spring is clamped between adjacent lego pieces when making the hinge piece, use a strip of card or plastic 0.5mm thick as a spacer to hold the two halves of ...