Interactive Puppet
Description
The Earthquake Room Simulator is an interactive educational model that shows how an indoor living room may respond to earthquake shaking. The room begins in a calm state, then furniture, hanging objects, books, decor, cabinet doors, and other unsecured items react as the simulated shaking becomes stronger. Objects can wobble, slide, lose support, fall under gravity, collide with the floor, bounce slightly, and settle after the earthquake stops.
The simulation allows you to change earthquake magnitude, simulation speed, distance from the source, ground conditions, and building response. These factors affect the estimated shaking experienced inside the room. Live readouts show the room response, shake strength, relative energy, and likely motion, while a synthetic shaking trace visualizes the motion driving the animation. This is an educational room-response model and is not a structural engineering analysis or a recorded seismogram.
How To Use
Start the earthquake and adjust the settings to compare how earthquake size, distance, ground conditions, and building response change the motion inside the room.
| Control | Setting | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Earthquake | Start / Stop | Starts the earthquake or stops it and allows the room to settle. |
| Reset Room | Button | Returns the room and movable objects to their starting state. |
| Magnitude | M 2.0–9.0 | Changes the simulated earthquake magnitude at the source. |
| Simulation Speed | 0.25×–2× | Changes the speed of the room animation and object physics. |
| Distance From Source | 5–200 km | Changes the simulated distance between the room and the earthquake source. |
| Ground | Select | Compare Hard Rock, Firm Ground, Soft Soil, and Very Soft Sediment. |
| Building Response | Select | Changes the room response between Low Amplification, Typical Room, and Higher Amplification. |
| Room Response | Readout | Shows the estimated intensity of the current room response. |
| Shake Strength | Readout | Shows the current simulated shaking strength as a percentage. |
| Relative Energy | Readout | Shows the simulator's relative earthquake-energy value. |
| Likely Motion | Readout | Describes the expected room motion, such as sway, rattle, shift, fall, or slide. |
| Shaking Trace | View | Displays the synthetic waveform used as a visual driver for the room animation. |