Wardrobe earthquake detector

[dave]

Not diy - but I hope is of interest to folk here.

We have an old and large wardrobe. It regularly creaks in ways I have reconginise for years. Early this morning a LF "buzz" (~10-20Hz) emmanated from it. I estimate the time at about 06:30. It woke me up as was such an uncharacteristic noise from said wardrobe.

I wondered (*honest I did guys*) whether there was another quake in Haiti and this wardrove detected it. There was another such wardrobe-noise about an hour after that - but much quieter.

On the lunchtime news they announced another 6.1 quake in Haiti ... at

06:00 local time!

Of course 06:00 there is not 06:00 here - and I wish I'd noted the exact time - but as best I can tell it was as I said, about 06:30

Maybe I have the world's first quake-detecting wardrobe?

[GB]

It's far more valuable than just a detector. It's an earthquake predictor, giving about 5 hours warning. I suggest that you write a letter to Nature immediately. In the meantime, don't even think of moving it or even opening the door. Buy some new clothes if necessary.

[dom]

Check what they were doing at CERN with the Large Hadron Collider.

Possibly your wardrobe detected a new, exotic particle.

[dave]

Ok will do :-) Amazing co-incidence though. ps Will get apatent on it right away:-)

[dave]

ha ha - this just gets better. The wardrobe was originally owned by a person called Higgs (really).

[Jules]

Heh :) Of course an earthquake-detecting wardrobe *might* be possible[1]; the problem likely to be that it would register far louder - albeit perhaps inaudible to humans - things that were closer to home, too. I remember one of the guys at Bletchley building a little seismometer, and it worked great in terms of detection, but it was difficult to screen out things like road traffic, trains a few miles away etc.

[1] all you need is a spring-loaded weight and a frame, after all.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember dave saying something like:

Neighbours banging the headboard.

[Andy Cap]

If by Bletchley, you mean the PO place, then you probably know Stone TTC. The lecture rooms had ceilings made up of venetian blind slats and early one morning, when just a few of us had arrived, these slats started vibrating and pens and pencils were moving on the desks. IIRC the epicentre of this small quake was around the Chester reigion, but it was all a bit disconcerting for those that had never experienced anything like it before.

Andy C

[The Medway Handyman]

Might be an eathquake detecting coathanger inside the wardrobe...

[Andy Champ]

I used to work in a steel framed building over a station. every time a heavy goods went through it bounced up and down, and we got used to it.

One day it went sideways. It turned out that was it amplifying an earthquake (the Bishop's Castle 1990 one I think) which was otherwise completely undetectable.

Andy

[Adrian C]

Neighbour's mobile phone, left behind.

[ARWadsworth]

At ~10-20Hz?

Adam

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "The Medway Handyman" saying something like:

You may jest, but I heard the Indonesian quake that sparked off the tsunami of 2004. My building has concrete walls which rang like somebody was bashing a hammer on the outside. I didn't know what the hell it was at the time, but the following day I realised it was entirely coincident with the 'quake, allowing for transmission time of 30 mins or so according to the USGS. Spooky stuff, indeed.

[geoff]

In message , " [e-mail]" writes

The fluffon ?

[RobertL]

When we had a mild earthquake at night a while ago my wife surfaced from her deep sleep to ask "are you doing that?"

Robert

[Scrump]

At 10-20Hz? They're going some!

[dave]

Neighbour is lone 80 years old woman!

I happen to know she does not have a mobile phone.

I am certain (whatever caused it) it was one or more of the joints in the wardrobe, "buzzing". My e quake comment was obvious cra* as the times don't tally. But often thought these tiny 'out of the usual' events do have interesting causes :-)

[dave]

Amazing isn't it. My own wife has slept through a couple of quakes here in the UK - even when the walls did actually wobble!

[dave]

Not arf :)

[alexander.keys1]

We should be asking if there have been any underground nuclear explosions anywhere in the world, at the time of the quakes, there was talk in 1999 of a quake in Turkey being caused by a bomb test in Pakistan. The Septics might have their reasons for flattening Haiti, I wouldn't put anything past them.