Earthquakes produce two kinds of seismic waves: he longitudinal primary waves (called P waves) and the transverse secondary waves (called S waves).

Earthquakes produce two kinds of seismicwaves: he longitudinal primary waves (calledP waves) and the transverse secondary waves(called S waves). Both S waves and P wavestravel through Earth’s crust and mantle, butat different speeds; the P waves are alwaysfaster than the S waves, but their exact speedsdepend on depth and location. For the pur-pose of this exercise, we assume the P wave’sspeed to be 8280 m/s while the S waves travelat a slower speed of 5080 m/s.If a seismic station detects a P wave andthen 23.6 s later detects an S wave, how faraway is the earthquake center?Answer in units of km.

Earthquakes produce two kinds of seismicwaves: he longitudinal primary waves (calledP waves) and the transverse secondary waves(called S waves). Both S waves and P wavestravel through Earth’s...