Expert: Donald Rosenfeld - 11/17/2005

Question
Hi, I am a 8th grade student and I attend Union Park Middle School. I have been assigned to complete a science project that I am having difficulty with. The question that I chose to do my project on is: Is there a relationship between sunspot cycles and earthquakes. I have found a great deal of information on these subjects, but I am having trouble trying to show if there is a relationship between the two. Is there any information that you feel will be helpful for me? Also, how can I show if there is a relationship between them or not? Thank you for your time,
Brandie C. Green

Answer
Hi Brandi

Take a look at:

http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/gen01/gen01473.htm

http://tinyurl.com/9cx4w

http://tinyurl.com/8gobu

http://tinyurl.com/dadxl

My feeling is that there is no relationship. To demonstrate that you'd need to show a graph of the date of an earthquake and the sun spots for the days preceeding.

http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/sunspots/

http://www.dxlc.com/solar/

http://sidc.oma.be/index.php3