4 ms·
Mysterious electrical bursts warn of material collapse
- gms7777 14y agoWhile I do think the phenomena is really cool, the article states how it may be used to forewarn of earthquakes and bridge collapses. I'm curious how much benefit could be gained from knowing of an earthquake a few seconds in advance?
- dllthomas 14y agoI would love 5 seconds to get further away from a chimney or what have you.
- rosser 14y agoOnly tangentially related, but IR satellite imagery showed a significant, clearly discernable spike in temperature immediately above the epicenter of the Tohoku quake last March, that peaked three days before the quake. That's a lot more than a few seconds' notice, if it's consistent.
- jofer 14y agoI think you're thinking of ionospheric data, rather than IR data. E.g. http://www.ep.sci.hokudai.ac.jp/~heki/pdf/2011GL047908.pdf http://www.ep.sci.hokudai.ac.jp/~heki/pdf/2011GL047908.pdf I haven't heard of an infra-red-visible precursor of any sort, at any rate, though I could be very wrong there.
- rosser 14y agoFirst hit on searching (DDG) for "japan earthquake epicenter infrared": http://www.technologyreview.com/view/424033/atmosphere-above-japan-heated-rapidly-before-m9/ http://www.technologyreview.com/view/424033/atmosphere-above...
- samstave 14y ago<tinfoil> HAARP </tinfoil>
- prothid 14y agoA few seconds could shut down reactors, gas lines, slow trains, trigger stop-lights (e.g. preceding tunnels), alarm people in parking decks, etc. Earthquakes are known to sometimes be preceded by unexplained balls of light much further in advance. If this phenomenon is related, the warning period likely exceeds just a few seconds.
- jofer 14y agoActually, there's a few seconds (depending on distance from the epicenter) warning already. Body waves ("P" and "S" waves) travel through the earth at a greater speed than surface waves (which are what actually cause damage). Japan's high-speed rail lines are already programmed to shut down when a significant earthquake is (automatically) detected from body-wave arrivals. Of course, this only helps if you're not very close to the epicenter of the earthquake. Also, not to be too pedantic, but "earthquake lightning" has only been reliably documented after or during earthquake rupture. It is a weird and apparently real phenomenon, though.
- artaxerxes 14y agoWorm sign!
- varelse 14y agoWhy does this remind me of crunching wintergreen lifesavers? http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/119/why-do-wintergreen-life-savers-spark-when-crunched http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/119/why-do-wintergr...
- rachelbythebay 14y agoHow about X-rays emitted by adhesive tape when you pull it off glass?
- Mz 14y agoI lived in Southern California when there was a fairly large quake, I think either 7.1 or 7.2. At the time, I had an elaborate bedroom set with a floating mirror. For several weeks prior to the quake, the floating mirror periodically rattled. I found it baffling and couldn't figure out what was causing it. After the quake, it seems fairly obvious that there was some kind of pre-quake energy release going on. It seems to me there should be some means to predict that a quake is likely. I just don't know what it would be.
- cluda01 14y agoPerhaps a truck drove by every time you saw the mirror rattle?
- Mz 14y agoNot likely. It did not recur any other time in the 2.75 years I lived there. It was an isolated military base in the Mojave Desert. I lived on a cul-de-sac with limited traffic. We didn't even have a mailman driving into the cul-de-sac because we had locked mailboxes at the entrance to the cul-de-sac. The master bedroom was on the second floor. Etc.
- sneak 14y agohttp://jbdeaton.com/2011/how-to-predict-an-earthquake/ http://jbdeaton.com/2011/how-to-predict-an-earthquake/
- nextstep 14y agoMaybe this can explain WTC 7.
- Craiggybear 14y agoPiezo-electric effect in ceramics (as well as rocks) is well known. Cause and effect aren't clear in this piece I felt.