What Is An Earthquake? | The Dr. Binocs Show | Educational Videos For Kids

You're laughing, right? Watching me tumble like that? Are you?

Oh! No no, go ahead! But hey, do you know what just happened?

There we go again! Well, this is nothing but an earthquake, a small one indeed. Come, let me tell you about Earthquakes today!

Zoom In! The surface of the Earth is like a jigsaw puzzle. Yes, it's not a single piece of land but approximately 20 pieces of a puzzle that constantly move, but you don't feel it because they move quite slowly.

Each of one those puzzle pieces are called 'Tectonic Plates'. So whenever those plates hit bump or slide past another plate, an earthquake is caused! The surface where these plates slip is called the Fault or the Fault plane.

So when do you think it happens? Well, it happens all the time! But hey, don't be scared.

Most of the times, we don't feel the quakes as they are too small to reach us. But sometimes, they are so strong that they can be felt over 1000 miles away. The place where the earthquake originates is called the Hypocentre and the place where it occurs on the Earth's surface is called the Epicenter.

There are three types of Earthquakes. Convergent boundary. Here, one plate is forced over another during an earthquake, which causes a Thrust Fault Many hills and mountains have been formed due to the Convergent Boundary.

Divergent boundary Here, plates are drifted apart from each other, forming a Rift Zone. This kind gives birth to new ocean floors. Transform fault Here, the plates here slip by each other and this is also called Strike-Slip.

So earthquakes are nothing but the shaking, rolling or a sudden shock of the earth's surface. Now you know that whenever the Earth is stressed or angry, it shakes and grumbles! Don't be scared, I was just kidding The instrument used by Scientists to measure the intensity of Earthquake is known as a Seismograph!

A Tsunami is caused when earthquakes occur under water. Yikes! I need to rush before I tumble again.

So this is me Zooming out. Tune in next time for more fun facts.