Phenomena
Can animals predict earthquakes?
Phenomena
Written by Henry and Melissa billings
Published by Jamestown publishers 1999
I read a story titled Can animals predict earthquakes? This story was not a long drawn out scientific read. This story gave several examples of animal’s behavior before an earthquake hit. It also gave a few scientific reasons of why they, the scientist, thought animals reacted when an earthquake was near. I liked the story; I would recommend this story for someone who was interested in this subject.
A man from Guatemala saw his gold fish leap out of the bowl.
The event that changed scientist’s mind took place in North Eastern China during the 1970’s
Haicheng is a city in China that was evacuated early, because the Chinese listened to the warnings of the animals.
There was an experiment where scientists severed the leg nerves of some laboratory pigeons, while leaving the others alone. During a small earth tremor the pigeons with the nerve damage done nothing, while the rest of them went into a frenzied.
The charged particles released before a earth quake are called ions
By Veronica
Disasters
“Disasters” is about some of the most terrible disasters that have ever happened: fire, volcanic eruptions, shipwrecks, bombings, earthquakes, etc. I read “Pompeii: The City That Slept for 1,500 Years” and “Death on the Unsinkable Titanic”. This book was very interesting and I would like to read the rest of the stories some other time.
Pompeii was built on the slope of Mount Vesuvius an inactive volcano. In A.D. 79, Vesuvius became very active. The lethal gasses from the volcano had killed all living things. A paste of volcanic ash mixed with mud and rain covered the city to a depth of 12 to 50 feet shutting off oxygen and preventing decay. It was as if the city had been frozen in time. Excavators found everything 1500 years later in an unbelievably good state of preservation. Today visitors marvel at Pompeii’s preserved wonders and step back in time 2,000 years.
“Death on the Unsinkable Titanic” is probably one of the most well known disasters. Many lives were lost when the ship hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic. The Titanic had over 2,200 passengers, but only 711 survived. Over 1,500 went to a watery grave with the unsinkable ship. Perhaps, if Captain Smith had heeded the warnings of two nearby ship and reduced the speed of the ship, it wouldn’t have sunk. Would the Titanic be as famous today if it hadn’t sunk?
By Linda
