The tc1 seismometer

What to do: Try to jump or, better, to swing slowly on your legs keeping just a meter away from the seismometer and see how the amplitude of the oscillations on the chart increases.
What to notice: TC1 is a seismometer with just one vertical component made of materials commonly used created by the American engineer Ted Channel. The instrument is made of a large screw, to which are fixed powerful neodymium magnets, suspended to a highly deformable spring. The screw with the magnets is free to oscillate in a coil made of about 2500 wire turns of thin copper. The oscillations of the screw with the magnets induce an electric current with an intensity proportional to the acceleration of soil displacement. An electronic card transform this electrical signal so that all the movements of the soil, even the most subtle, can be displayed on the computer. The seismometer TC1 is able to detect both the vibrations caused by small local earthquakes as those due to strong earthquakes occurring thousands kilometers away.