1. English for Civil Engineers
Week 3 (lesson 1)
Instructor: Marina Mogli

2. E-class: all ppts of this class
E-class: open for the first 3 weeks, then you have to register
English for Civil Engineers: MHXC251

3. Today’s class is about

4. Brainstorming
In 1 minute, write down as many words as you can think of on the topic of
“earthquakes”

5. Earthquake resistant structures
What do you know about earthquakes?
Which factors should engineers take into account to create earthquake-resistant buildings?
In what type of building would you like to be during an earthquake?

6. What is an earthquake?
An earthquake is a shaking of the ground caused by the sudden breaking and movement of large sections (tectonic plates) of the earth's rocky outermost crust. The edges of the tectonic plates are marked by faults (or fractures). Most earthquakes occur along the fault lines when the plates slide past each other or collide against each other.

7. The shifting masses send out shock waves that may be powerful enough to
alter the surface of the Earth, thrusting up cliffs and opening great cracks in the ground and
cause great damage ... collapse of buildings and other man-made structures, broken power and gas lines (and the consequent fire), landslides, snow avalanches, tsunamis (giant sea waves) and volcanic eruptions.

8. Interesting earthquake facts
Earth has been more seismologically active in the past 15 years or so, says Stephen S. Gao, a geophysicist at Missouri University of Science & Technology. Not all seismologist agree, however.
San Francisco is moving toward Los Angeles at the rate of about 2 inches per year — the same pace as the growth of your fingernails — as the two sides of the San Andreas fault slip past one another. The cities will meet in several million years. However, this north-south movement also means that despite fears, California won't fall into the sea.

9. There are about 500,000 earthquakes a year around the world, as detected by sensitive instruments. About 100,000 of those can be felt, and 100 or so cause damage each year. Each year the southern California area alone experiences about 10,000 earthquakes, most of them not felt by people.
The sun and moon cause tremors. It's long been known that they create tides in the planet's crust, very minor versions of ocean tides. Now researchers say the tug of the sun and moon on the San Andreas Fault stimulates tremors deep underground.

10. A city in Chile moved 10 feet in the massive 8
A city in Chile moved 10 feet in the massive 8.8 magnitude earthquake Feb. 27, The rip in Earth's crust shifted the city of Concepción that much to the west. The quake is also thought to have changed the planet's rotation slightly and shortened Earth's day.
There's no such thing as "earthquake weather." Statistically, there is an equal distribution of earthquakes in cold weather, hot weather, rainy weather, and so on, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Scientists say there is no physical way that weather could affect the forces several miles beneath the surface of the earth where quakes originate. The changes in barometric pressure in the atmosphere are very small compared to the forces in the crust, and the effect of the barometric pressure does not reach beneath the soil.

11. The Pacific Ring of Fire is the most geologically active region of Earth. It circles the Pacific Ocean, touching the coasts North and South America, Japan, China and Russia. It's where the majority of Earth's major quakes occur as major plate boundaries collide.
Oil extraction can cause minor earthquakes. These are not the quakes you read about. Rather, because oil generally is found in soft and squishy sediment, when oil is removed other rock moves in to fill the void, creating "mini-seismic events" that are not noticeable to humans.
The deadliest earthquake ever struck January 23, 1556 in Shansi, China. Some 830,000 are estimated to have died.

12. Explain the following words before you watch the video
seismic rumbling
tectonic plates
collapsing buildings
withstand
tremor
resilient
tiled roofs
shock absorbent
frame
partition
foundation
concrete column
pendulum

13. How to make a building earthquake-proof
More than a million people have died in earthquakes in the last two decades. Seismic rumbling between the Earth’s tectonic plates puts some of the world’s most densely-populated countries at particular risk. Yet for the most part, earthquakes themselves do not pose the greatest risk: Collapsing buildings do. It’s possible to design buildings so they’re more resilient to earthquakes – keeping them light and flexible so that they can absorb and distribute the energy of their movement.
h?v=sxpi9A7_syE

14. Japanese pagodas in earthquakes
Watch the video and comment on how architecture is influenced in countries where the possibility of an earthquake is really high, like in Japan, for example.
/watch?v=0tFWn_e71qc

15. 10 Biggest Recorded Earthquakes

16. Scientists Predict 2018 Will Be a Bad Year for Earthquakes. Here's Why

17. Top 5 Earthquake Resistant Structures Around the World

18. How We Design Buildings To Survive Earthquakes

19. Earthquakes & civil engineering

20. Read the text about earthquake resistant structures
What happened to the church of Hagia Sophia?
Why do earthquakes occur?
What are the categories seismic waves are classified in?
Why are G-forces dangerous?
What kind of soil is good to build on?
What are the advantages & disadvantages of shear walls?

21. Composition
Based on what you have learnt about earthquake-proof buildings, in what kind of building would you like to be during an earthquake? Describe its features and why you think it would be safe.

22. Thank you Ευχαριστώ