Waves and Earthquakes

[jaggers]

I am stuck on a GCSE Science past paper and can't find any help to this question, can anyone out there help me please?

Two types of seismic waves are:

P, which are longitudinal and S, which are transverse

Describe how each moves the foundations of the buildings. (2 marks)

[jake-the-peg]

A longitudinal wave is like sound (p stands for pressure I think)

Imagine a block of jelly that you put your hand against and push in a rythmic way - it creates a high pressure region that travels through the block - it's basically a pushing action.

An S wave is like a piece of rope you tie one end to a wall and shake the other from side to side - as the wave hits the end there is a shaking effect from side to side.

Shouldn't be too hard to apply this to a buildings foundation

[brachiopod]

Since it's GCSE perhaps I shouldn't bring Raleigh and Love waves into this then.