Have you ever had that kind of special dream, where you are with your loved ones, laughing and talking, having the best of times, one of those dreams where you just don't want to wake up? I had one of those a few nights ago, it was lovely... IT WAS UNTIL A FUCKING EARTHQUAKE WOKE ME UP!!! _{nothing serious but really rude... I mean was sleeping man... geez} so yeah we're talking about those fuckers today... _{I'm still mad}

Source: GIPHY

To put it simply an earthquake is the rapid movement of the surface of the earth, this is caused by the released energy accumulated between the tectonic plates that form the crust of the planet _{what? no Earthquakes are not earth farts, where did you read that?} these violent movements of the earth can range in intensity, some may go by unnoticed but others cause horrific and incredible damage

The tectonic plates are the key to understand earthquakes, these are massive sheets of rock and earth that float on top of the mantle, because they are floating they move a lot _{really slowly but a lot, not like gamers that don't move at all} now when they actually move they make friction with each other this holds energy and the release of it is what an earthquake is, the more energy released the most violent it is

The place where plate tectonic meet is called a fault and there are three main types of them that cause the most known types of earthquakes, first we have strike-slip earthquakes which occur when one plate moves alongside another in different directions, this causes a side to side movement of the earth, normal earthquakes occur when one plate moves away from another, this one dips into the crust of the earth, and finally thrust earthquakes _{is just me or these things sound weirdly sexual?} produced when one plate goes on top of another making the other one to dip into the earth, _{it can't be just me, I'm sure} these last two generally make the crust of the earth to move like the waves of water _{amazing but scary shit}

Source: GIPHY

Earthquakes are unpredictable and violent _{like the feelings of an average teenager} but scientists can measure them and study them _{unlike the feelings of an average teenager} using the Magnitude Momentum Scale that goes from 1 up to infinity and it works logarithmically, _{meaning 2 is ten times more intense than 1 and 3 is ten times more intense than 2, you can see this kind of reaction when you tell an angry person to calm down} the higher measure earthquakes can produce ruptures in the ground, soil liquefaction, landslides, fires, tsunamis and floods making and huge in human lives around the area of the earthquakes, we cannot predict this devastating forces of nature yet but we can prevent them following the advice of experts and taking into account drills and necessary precautions _{for real guys this shits can get really scary, don't just go back to sleep as I did!!!}

Source: GIPHY

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Other Sources

Earthquake | Wikipedia
Earthquake | Britannica
The Science of Earthquakes | U.S. Geological Survey
Earthquakes 101 | National Geographic
Why are earthquakes so hard to predict? - Jean-Baptiste P. Koehl | TED-Ed
Earthquake Science, and the Disaster That Created It | SciShow

THANKS FOR READING!

Source: GIPHY