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a seismograph located near the San Andreas fault detects two earthquakes. One earthquake is very strong, the other is relatively weak. How will the seismographs produced during the two earthquakes compare?

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During an earthquake or any ground movement, a seismograph would produce an output called seismogram in which we could see the recording of the motion of the ground in the three Cartesian axes (x, y, and z). A seismograph has a special device called seismometer that is extremely sensitive to up and down motions of the earth and this device can be understood by visualizing a weight hanging on a spring.

Since two earthquakes are producing different relative strength, therefore the correct answer to this would be:

“The seismograms produced during the two earthquakes will be very different. The stronger one will have a larger amplitude than the weaker one.”

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