Turn your computer in seismograph

Most of modern notebooks comes with integrated accelerometer which is used for protection of hard drive in case of accident and to prevent from data loss or any damages. Researchers at Stanford University have an idea how to use accelerometer for seismographic purposes.



The idea is pretty simple, all data of unusual accelerations are stored and if it would be forwarded to centralized system we would get an overview of earthquake activity all over the world. All you need is $ 50 USB meter and it is said, that also desktop computers will be able to measure unusual seismographic activity.

You can participate by yourself and send all the data with help of the program you install on your computer to Stanford University, which started the project Quake-Catcher Network. All the data are send to Stanford where the statistics exclude random moves of your laptop. Onyl seismic shocks are left, which were reported by many of notebooks in the same area. This are earthquakes.

Computer imitations for now detect only earthquakes of magnitude 4.0 or more, which means moderately weak ground shaking. In project participates 1000 people from more than 61 countries. Authors of the project hopes to attract at least 10000 people. Join now