Earthquakes and Seismology in Earth’s Interior

We just learned about all the layers of the Earth, but how did we accumulate this information? How do we know the composition of these layers and the depths at which they occur? The answer is seismology! Let's learn about the different kinds of seismic waves, their properties, and how geologists have used them to discern the composition of the Earth in astounding detail.

Script by Jared Matteucci and Bryne Hadnott

Check out "Is This Wi-Fi Organic?", my book on disarming pseudoscience!

[MatchaGrounds]

This man got millions of views on just 1 topic a couple years ago, yet is still continuing to make actual content unrelated to it just because he wants to have an educational channel. What a respectable man.

[jquest]

There's so much deep science and data that fit our model of the earth. If only people would either try to understand the science or admit that they don't understand it, without making up stuff to fill in the gaps.

[Jacob_graber]

Awesomely succinct video! I think the only detail missing is specifically noting that we know the core has liquid and not just some strange type of solid, because S-waves cannot travel in liquids due to their fundamental inability to support a shear stress.

[PremierCCGuyMMXVI]

Thanks for this professor, I learn a lot from these videos, science just fascinates me

[TroyRubert]

Man I remember seeing an amazing animation showing many earthquakes going off in rapid secession and each wave helped show how it reflected around the core. It was super badass.

[Madashell]

I wonder how flat earthers explain earthquakes? They probably think the burners that the "pizza" is sitting on are turned up too high.

[glennpearson]

Fantastic! Finally, I have a video I can link when the flerfs go on about "Kola Borehole ... blah, blah, blah, we've only drilled 8 miles deep, so how can we know...?"

Great series, Professor Dave!

[quadrewplex]

I came here because I wanted to easily debunk the earth being 6000 years old.
I was not expecting to be this captivated by learning all about a field of science I had previously been illiterate in.

[crex]

You keep forgetting the most dense layer... the flat earthers.

[JormunB]

Geology really lends itself to the classic Prof Dave format! I let out a surprisingly bummed "aw" when the outro hit before we got plate tectonics. Something to look forward to I guess!

[BladeValant]

Epic! I loving these, you communicate it very well.

I would love to see a crash course on meteorology for folks. You can explain it way better than me and I think people be largely surprised how many different schools of science are used in forecasting and meteorology in general.

[concernednewfie]

Got to be one of the best videos on this subject I have seen, without fluff like humans chatting. Very good.

[AvidDogWalker]

A Geophysicist is more likely to study the topics explained in this video, geologists more study the actual rocks and how they are expressed at the surface and how they interact, however it is a good catch all term.

This video is awfully informational anyways and is a great introduction to such an interesting field. Keep it up Dave 🙂

[PlayNowWorkLater]

I’m going to have to watch this a few times. Wild are the incredible amounts of variables on this subject.

[cuzned]

* sees new Prof Dave video notification *
Me: I’m not gonna understand this at all.
* has already hit play *

[보보코코와]

Thankyou for making this video I am a student from korea and the detailed explaination of different layers in the earth helped me clear some confusion

[WriterNZane]

My physical science teacher has not done a good job explaining this, and seeing someone explain it in such a clear way makes me a bit more confident going into finals

[ZayaanErasmus]

Great content! 3rd year geography & environmental studies student 🌍

[sujatanatesh]

So satisfying and enjoying intro music 🎶😄

[iggi]

This was great! Like a refresher class