DIY Shake Table: Имитация движений при землетрясении в домашних условиях

Now listen up, if you ever wanted to see what happens when the ground shakes like it’s in one of them big earthquakes, you can make your own little shake table right at home. It’s real easy and you don’t need much, just some simple things you can find around the house. Let me tell ya how to make one of them shake tables, so you can test if your buildings can stand up to a shake or two!

First thing, you gotta get yourself a cardboard shoebox. You know, them old shoeboxes that sit around in the closet with all the extra shoes in ’em? If you don’t got one, just ask around or go grab one from the store. Next, you’ll need some rubber bands. Ain’t hard to find those either, just look in the junk drawer. The kind you use to tie up a bundle of mail will work fine.

Now, you’ll need some marbles. Yeah, you know those little round things the kids play with? Well, they’re gonna be the ones making the shake happen. And lastly, if you want to test some buildings, you’ll need a bunch of toothpicks and some marshmallows. That’s right, marshmallows. You’ll use ’em to build little houses and see if they can stand up when the shake starts. Sounds like fun, don’t it?

Alright, here’s what you do: first, take the shoebox and cut a little hole in the bottom. It don’t gotta be too big, just enough for the rubber band to fit through. Then, tie one end of the rubber band to something solid, like a pencil or a nail stuck in the box. Stretch the rubber band across the box and attach the other end to a small crank or an eccentric, something that can twist and shake the table. If you can’t find a crank, just tie the rubber band to a stick, and you can shake it by hand. Simple as that!

Now, you got the basic setup. Next, put the marbles underneath the box, so they can roll around when the table shakes. This will help you see how the shaking feels. The marbles move around just like the ground moves in an earthquake, see? And while you’re shaking it, you can place your little toothpick houses on top and watch if they fall down or stay up. It’s a real neat way to learn how strong or weak a structure can be during an earthquake.

When you’re done setting it up, just give the crank a twist or shake it with your hand, and see what happens! If you’ve built your marshmallow house right, it should stay standing, but if not, you’ll see it come crashing down just like in the real world. It’s a real good way to teach kids about engineering and earthquakes without all them fancy tools.

Now, if you really want to get fancy, you can test different buildings with different materials. Maybe try some spaghetti instead of toothpicks, or use different kinds of candy instead of marshmallows. You can see which one holds up best when the shaking starts. Makes it like a little science experiment right in your own home, and it don’t cost hardly nothin’ either.

Here’s a little tip: if you want the shake to be even stronger, just add more marbles or make the rubber band tighter. You can even change the speed of the shaking if you want to see what happens during a long earthquake or a quick jolt. It’s fun, it’s simple, and you get to see how stuff stands up to all that shaking.

So that’s how you make a shake table. You don’t need to be a scientist or have any fancy tools—just some old cardboard, rubber bands, marbles, and a little bit of creativity. If you got kids, this is a great way to get ’em thinking about how buildings stay up and how earthquakes work. Plus, you can have some fun in the process!

And next time someone talks about earthquakes, you can tell ’em you made your own shake table and tested it yourself. Who knows, maybe you’ll even come up with a better way to build things that can stand up to the shakes. Either way, you’ll have fun and learn somethin’ too!

Tags：[Shake Table, Earthquake Simulator, DIY Shake Table, Earthquake Experiment, Science Fun, Kids Science Projects, Build Structures, Engineering Experiment]