Final answer:
A building’s response to shaking is fundamentally determined by its natural frequency of vibration and structural design. Resonance and standing waves can amplify shaking if they match the building's characteristics, leading to damage or collapse. Constructive interference of earthquake waves can also contribute to uneven distribution of damage.
Step-by-step explanation:
Two fundamental factors that determine the response of a building to shaking are its natural frequency of vibration and its structural design, including aspects like height and shape. During an earthquake, if the driving frequency of the ground motion matches a building’s natural frequency, resonance can occur, amplifying vibrations and potentially leading to failure.
Additionally, the height of a building can determine whether it will experience standing waves, which can also lead to significant damage. Moreover, factors such as the span of the roof and how it is supported may contribute to its vulnerability; large surface areas supported only at the edges can resonate at frequencies of earthquakes, making them more susceptible to collapse. Furthermore, as earthquake waves travel along Earth's surface and encounter denser rocks, constructive interference can amplify these waves at certain locations, causing more damage at points further from the epicenter than at nearer points.