Can 'Invisibility Cloaks' Protect Buildings From Earthquakes?
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Scientists have been intrigued with the concept of making objects and even events disappear ever since J.K. Rowling planted the seed with Harry Potter's invisibility cloak. They have had limited success in both so far, by manipulating light waves - bending them to make objects invisible, and making events disappear by changing their speed. Now, some mathematicians are proposing the same principle to protect buildings from earthquake damage.
The bold idea is the brainchild of a team of researchers led by Dr. William Parnell from the University of Manchester. Their proposal, which so far is largely theoretical, is based on changing the course elastic or seismic waves, similar to what scientists have done with light waves.
The researchers believe that if large buildings in earthquake-prone regions are padded with pressurized rubber at their bases, it could keep specific types of elastic waves from traveling through the ground, which in theory would result in the waves traveling around the building, rather than through it.
While it may sound like science fiction, the idea behind it is not too far-fetched, because of the way seismic waves travel through the ground. While there is no stopping them when they are rippling through dense rock and soil, the waves get deflected when they encounter any pressurized object and end up going around them instead of through them, similar to how light waves behave through a prism or water.
So, if we placed a giant rubber padding filled with air or some pressurized fluid around the foundation of any structure, it should in theory, be able to deflect the seismic waves, making the building invisible and therefore, invincible, when faced with even the largest shakers!
While it would be impractical to cloak every building with rubber, it would certainly help to protect important ones like nuclear power plants, thus averting the recent Japan-like crises. Though scientists have a long way to go before this becomes a reality, the fact that it is even a possibility, is quite exciting.
Resources: gizmag.com, allshookup.org, Discovery.com, cnet.com
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244 Comments
dogodiskabout 12 yearsThat sounds really good. It would be really nice because lots of people die from earthquakes. I'm really interested in science and I would like to study that. But with making a building invisible( is it visible to the seisimic wave or us?) will we still be able to see the building? I'm doing earthquakes project at school and it was really fun.
essendonabout 12 yearsThat is a really interesting idea and seed. I am just wondering if it is invisible, it is invincible.
cwnabout 12 yearsasome- Chεmιcπσγαover 12 yearsargh forgot my picture :\
- Chεmιcπσγαover 12 yearsTHIS IS AWESOME!
- jackover 12 yearsbloody fools
- alyssaover 12 yearswow
- Vanessaover 12 yearsI found this article very satisfying because I never knew that people could prevent earthquakes. I think that the invisibility cloak will help a lot of neighborhoods and save many lives. I think it would be extremely helpful to the cities that have deadly earthquakes like Japan. What you have to do with the invisibility cloaks is, you have to put rubber padding filled with air or some pressurized fluid around a building. However, the bad thing is, is that scientists are not exactly sure if they will work or not, but I hope they do! I would recommend this article to a friend who wants to learn how to save neighborhoods and lives.
sweetypieover 12 yearsimpossible- Nikola P.over 12 yearsThis article was very interesting to me. I like this idea because the "invisiblity cloak" will save lots of cities and neighborhoods from deadly earthquakes and might out stand a earthquake like in Japan. But the scientists aren't certian wether it will work or not work. I do hope it works because it will save millions of lives. I would recommend this article to a friend that wants to know more of how to prevent earthquakes.
- dogodiskabout 12 yearsI agree with you that a lot of lives could be saved. Even if we could stop the heat underground. Did you know that the temperatures in the mantle are up to the 4000 degrees celcius and the tectonic plates move with the heat and so they move into each other and create earthquakes. Please reply to me.
