Posted on 09/09/2001 7:46:48 AM PDT by CounterCounterCulture
LONDON (AP) -- What is the impact of a million people jumping?
Not a lot, scientists found.
Seismologists said Saturday that an experiment in which more than 1 million children jumped up and down simultaneously in the hope of triggering an earthquake had produced scarcely a tremor.
Children at London's Science Museum and at 5,000 schools around Britain jumped up and down for one minute at 11 a.m. Friday.
Scientists predicted that the jump would release 2 billion joules of energy -- the same amount generated by an earthquake measuring 3 on the Richter scale. That is not large enough to be easily felt, but big enough to be monitored.
``We live in a dynamic planet, earthquakes are happening all the time all over the place. We just don't recognize it,'' said seismologist Murray McGowan.
But the results of the experiment did not appear to be earth-shattering.
Early reports indicated the jump had left ``measurable traces'' on seismometers at the jump sites, organizers said, while the British Geological Survey was investigating a ``small trace'' in Cornwall. Organizers said it would take two weeks to monitor all the data.
``The Giant Jump did not cause an earthquake,'' said a statement posted on the experiment's Web site (www.scienceyear.com). ``So we can sleep well at night knowing that, contrary to the popular myth, even if everyone in China jumps up and down at the same time we won't get swept away by a tidal wave.''
The mass jump was held to mark the start of Science Year, a government initiative designed to spark an interest in science among young people.
Organizers said they believed that the experiment had set a world record for the largest simultaneous jump.
Just think of the lawsuits if they generated a 7.0 quake.
Heck you could just add all the children jumping over the whole planet and beat the heck out of 2 billion Joules... but since they're spread out, they're not felt.
Either that or the approximation of 2 billion Joules for an earthquake is a big underestimation.
Now, a million English school kids jump up and down without registering a blip.
Not to mention phasing problems. One kid out of sync might create a wave that effectively cancels out the wave creating by another. This effect is why a few thousand people going to their bleacher seats creates few problems while the same group stomping or swaying in unison can lead in some circumstances to structural colapse. Getting this number of school kids to do anything "in time" is probably a lot tougher than getting a bunch of drunks at a ball game to commit gross stupidity. :<)
Popular myth?????? Some how I missed this one.
The mass jump was held to mark the start of Science Year, a government initiative designed to spark an interest in science among young people.
Somehow I'm not suprized this was something the government sponsored.
Much the same result as 4 Billion People walking around at any one time.
This 'jumping' is a natural event and happens every year when millions of children find that the newest "Fad Toy" is not under the Christmas Tree.
The Richter scale is a logarithmic scale, so they're talking about an earthquake that's 1/100 as powerful as a magnitude 5. Of course, the news media could probably make somebody's sneezing sound pretty powerful if they said it regisitered a whopping NEGATIVE TWELVE on the Richter scale.
Children from the Overton Grange school in London take part in the 'Giant Jump' record-breaking experiment at the London Science Museum, September 7, 2001. School children all over Britain took part in the experiment in which they all jumped simultaneously for one minute in an attempt to produce a recordable seismic shock. (Dan Chung/Reuters)
IT WORKED!!! (Now, who do I sue?)
(Now, who do I sue?)
That depends. What's the name of the lady?
We were also not allowed to march across bridges when we were in marching band, the marching would cause problems with the bridge if enough people were in the band. I always thought it was pretty cool. (I HATED marching with that tuba-After 2 or 3 miles....it got pretty tiring.)
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