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Introduction:
This is a reprint of an article by Bennett M. Harris that wasoriginally posted in HTML format at the Harris Educationalwebsite in 2003 as part of the “Probeware / Earth Science”section promoting CoachLab probeware/datalogging equipment.The article discusses how a seismograph works, and describeshow to build a working seismograph. The article covers buildingthe sensor mechanism used to detect motion, how to connectthat sensor to CoachLab datalogging equipment, and how to setup Coach 5 software to make use of and record data from thatsensor.CoachLab and Coach Software is designed and produced bythe Center for Microcomputer Applications at the University of Amsterdam. Coach software is now in version 6, and CoachLaband ULAB hardware have also advanced. It is also possible toconnect the sensor detailed here to other indicating or datalogging equipment.The intent in republishing this document is to preserve itscontent so that it may continue to be useful to educators,students and science hobbyists as we update and improve our website.We hope that you find this information useful. It is provided asis, where is, without any assertion as to usability or accuracy.All copyright or trademark terms are the property of their respective owners and no copyright infringement is intended.
Original Article:
Build your own Seismograph!
An activity for Earth Science, Physical Science, TechnologyEducation, or ElectronicsGrades 4-12 or College
Overview:
A seismograph is a sensitive mechanical device that is used toobserve and record vibrations. Scientists and engineers useseismographs in order to measure and predict earthquakes andvolcanic eruptions and also to measure the effects of earthquakes and weather on buildings and structures. With aprobeware interface device (such as CoachLab, ULAB, TI-CBL,or Vernier LabPro), Coach software, and about $25.00 worth of parts you can construct a simple and sensitive seismograph thatcan be used to teach principles of earth science (vibrations fromearth movements), physical science (oscillations and dampedoscillations), technology education (civil engineering and effectsof vibrations on structures), or electronics (how sensors work,ohm's law).This article will show you how to create such a seismograph,how to calibrate its sensors, and how to use this device inactivities in your own classroom or lab.
Building the Seismograph
A seismograph makes use of inertia in order to operate. Inertiais the tendency of an object at rest to stay at rest or an objectthat is in motion to stay in motion unless acted upon by anoutside force. A seismograph uses a flexible "reed" that canmove freely if energy in the form of vibrations acts upon it toovercome its inertia. Once the vibrations stops internal frictionof the reed's materials cause the oscillation to dampen or slowlystop. The reed in a seismograph is connected between a stablebase that is fixed to the source of vibrations on one side, and toa counterweight that can move freely on the other side.Sensors (in our case flex sensors) mounted to the seismographcan then record the extent of the vibrations acting upon theseismograph. Any seismograph can only measure vibrations or movement in one plane. In order to measure right and leftvibrations at the same time as up and down vibrations wouldrequire multiple seismographs each mounted in the correctplane. With Coach software it is possible to measure vibrationsfrom four seismographs at a time (each mounted in a differentplane)For my seismograph I used "Tech Card" an educationalconstruction material made of recycled cardboard that is
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Build your own Seismograph!
An activity for Earth Science, Physical Science, Technology Education, or Electronics
 
www.harris-educational.com
designed to be easily cut and folded into whatever shapes youcan imagine. Tech Card is available through "The ScienceSource." You can also use regular non-corrugated cardboard or construct your seismograph from other materials as long as youhave a flexible reed that will vibrate freely in a single plane.(Reed materials can include cardboard, thin plastic, thin metalsuch as steel sheet metal, or even very thin wood).
Parts of my Tech Card Seismograph:
I constructed a base with a square-upright (made of two "C"beams) as a support. The square upright resists vibration sothat most of the energy of external vibrations goes into movingthe reed. The reed is made of a single unfolded "L" beam thatcan freely bend and flex with vibrations. The counterweight onthe left side is made up of the remainder of the "C" beam usedto make the support. It is folded back on itself three times toadd mass to the end of the reed. Flex Sensors are mounted toeach side of the reed using paper clips on each end. Paper (or cardboard) is used as an insulator between the sensors and thepaper clips.In my design I connected the flex sensors to the reed usingpaperclips as a "temporary" connection. More accuratemeasures of vibration can be achieved if the flex sensors areactually glued permanently to the reed. However, unless youare making a permanent seismograph out of more stablematerials than cardboard I don't recommend gluing the sensorsto the reed permanently. The paper/cardboard that covers bothends of the flex sensors are necessary as insulators so thatelectricity does not flow through the paperclips from one sensor to the other one thus shorting out the sensors. Using plasticpaper clips is another alternative.
Designs may vary significantly, see "Lesson Ideas by Discipline" below.
Building and Setting up the Sensor 
Just as in our activity "Building and Testing Structures" (whichalso uses Tech Card materials) we again choose to use flexsensors in order to measure vibrations in this experiment. Flexsensors are simply variable resistors that change their resistivevalue based on how much they are deflected from a straightline.{2009 Update: “Building and Testing Structures” is a technologyeducation activity that Harris Educational is proud to havetaught to both a group of NC-TSA students and as a workshopto a group of NC Technology Educators. Photographs from theNC-TSA workshop are now available at our Face Book FanPage at the following URL}
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/album.php?aid=86055&id=86177094101
Flex Sensors
For our workshop on "Building and Testing Structures" it wasnecessary to find ways to gather data from non destructive testson structures that were built by students. In order to do this weused an off the shelf CMA force sensor to apply and measureforces to the structures. We then wanted to measure how muchcertain structural members in the towers bent under that appliedforce. In order to measure this bending it was necessary toconstruct special sensors. Since it is easy to make any analogelectrical device work as a sensor with Coach Software and anyinterface (i.e. CoachLab, ULAB, TI-CBL, LabPro, etc) it is not ahard or time consuming task to construct special sensors.A transducer that can respond to bending force is alreadyavailable on the market. It is called a "Flex Sensor" and isavailable from many electronics and robotics websites for about$10.00 each. This device was originally designed to be used ingloves and other feedback devices that could gather informationfrom wearers for artificial reality.The sensor (shown above at almost real size) is simply avariable resistor that changes its resistance in response to howmuch it is bent. The way that the device works is based on itsconstruction.
 
The sensor has a backplane of a thin plasticpolymer that can easily bend. On top of this polymer is a layer of carbon that forms a resistor (which connects between the twometal terminals on the left side). On top of the carbon areequally sized and spaced squares of metal which are glued in
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Build your own Seismograph!
An activity for Earth Science, Physical Science, Technology Education, or Electronics
 
www.harris-educational.com
place at their centers to the backplane. When the device is bentthe spaces between the metal plates grows larger and thus theamount of carbon resistor shorted out by each metal square isreduced. When that happens the resistance of the sensor goesup. The response of the sensor is very linear over its flexiblerange. The sensor can only reliably indicate bending in onedirection (into the page as it is pictured here). Multiple sensorscan be used to record bending in multiple directions.To connect the sensor to CoachLab we simply soldered cablesto the sensors and placed 4-mm banana jack connectors on theother end. CoachLab II has 4-mm banana jack connectors for analog inputs and there is also a BT to 4-mm adapter availablethat will work with TI-CBL, TI-CBL2, ULAB, and Vernier LabPro.We used two sensors in our experiment so we color coded thesensors with red and blue heat shrink tubing (that was alsoused to insulate the solder joints).It was necessary to connect the sensors to our structures usingpaper clips. Since the top surface of the sensor (with metalsquares) is not insulated we simply slipped a piece of paper between the sensor and the metal paper clips. We wantedstudents to be able to see the sensor so we could describe howit worked so we left the paper "loose" but you may wish to gluepaper or very thin plastic in place permanently over your ownsensor.In order to measure vibrations in the reed of our seismograph itis necessary to use two flex sensors in order to build a "vibrationsensor." The reason we must use two flex sensors is that asingle flex sensor is only designed to measure deflection in onedirection.By mounting one sensor on the right side of the reed and theother on the left side of the reed and then connecting thesensors together as a voltage divider it is possible to measurevibrations in our seismograph. When the reed moves to theright the right side sensor deflects and measures a result whilethe left side outputs zero change (since it can't measurechanges in that direction). The reverse is true when the reedmoves to the left. As a result it is possible to build a sensor profile that relates the voltage output of the voltage divider tothe amount of deflection of the reed at any given moment. Byrecording that value vs. time we can see vibrations as theyoccur and compare their magnitude to each other. (just like in a"real" seismograph).Before you can measure vibrations with your sensor and aprobeware interface such as CoachLab or CBL you must firstconnect both sensors together as a voltage divider and then byexperiment and by interpolation create a mathematical profilethat relates the amount and direction of deflection to the voltagecoming out of the voltage divider network. In our example wewill use CoachLab II's analog input.In the first image on the right you see the two flex sensors(variable resistors) connected in series with each other to form avoltage divider network. Five volts D.C. is applied to one side of the voltage divider network and zero volts (or ground) isconnected to the other side. The center tap of the two sensors(resistors) is the output of your sensor and will have a voltagethat is in some way proportional to the amount and direction of movement of your seismograph. Each flex sensor variesbetween thirty thousand Ohms and forty thousand Ohmsdepending on the level of flex.By experiment or by calculation (using Ohm's law) we candetermine the values for the voltage output of the sensor at anygiven deflection. For simplicity sake we'll pick three points, zeroflex, 100% flex to the left, and 100% flex to the right.By using a volt meter and deflecting the reed of our seismograph manually we can determine that at zero flex theoutput of the sensor is approximately 2.500 volts. At 100% leftdeflection the output is 2.857 volts. At 100% right deflection theoutput is 2.143 volts.
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Build your own Seismograph!
An activity for Earth Science, Physical Science, Technology Education, or Electronics
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