Finding the Epicenter Lab

Hypothesis: In class, we learned that the way scientists find the epicenter of an earthquake is by finding all the ares that felt in and then they play a game of connect the dots. My hypothesis is that the epicenter of this earthquake is going to be somewhere in the southeast of the U.S. like Oklahoma
Observe the circles you have drawn: With the information I have gathered I can tell that the earthquakes epicenter is in Tennessee. I can tell this because all of my circles meet of and collide in Tennessee.
Measuring: I would say that the closest city to the epicenter would be the capital city, Nashville. Nashville is a mere 100 kilometers from the earthquake and because it was so close it must have had a really harsh effect on Nashville. It also might have taken the citizens by surprise because there aren't that many earthquakes in Tennessee and its not along a major fault line so the buildings and other structures probably haven't been build to resist a major quake, much less a small one.
Inferring: I would say that the first city to feel the quake would be Chicago, Illinois. Chicago is only 600 km away from the epicenter so the seismic waves would reach it first. Next I would say that people Houston, Texas would feel the waves. Houston is 1000 km away and the waves would reach it second. Finally, I think that people in Denver, Colorado would feel the waves. Denver is 1600 km away from the epicenter and it would take longer for the waves to reach the city.
Estimating: I know that San Fransisco is about 1,200 km from Tennessee. Given that piece of information I can repeat
the step I used to find out hoe far away the Quake was from the cities only in reverse order. I started from the Y axis and worked my way up to find the time. It took about 4 minutes and 40 seconds for the seismic waves to reach San Fransisco.
Interpreting Data: Because P waves travel faster then S waves, they will arrive in different places at different times. As you get farther from the Epicenter, the distance between P and S waves will get farther to.
Communicating: In order to Find the Epicenter of an earthquake, it is important to know at least three places that felt it. To determine the Epicenter, scientists do a sort of connect the dot theory to place the epicenter. Knowing three areas that felt the quake will give you a clear and accurate view of the Epicenter.

More To Explore

As I mentioned, Tennessee is pretty safe from earthquakes. It is in the center of the United States, which doesn't sit on a fault line and therefore, has a low earthquake risk. Although There aren't a lot of earthquakes in central U.S., there are a lot on the west coast where I'm from.

Seattle is a prime place for earthquakes because it sits right on a fault line. Recently, there haven't been many recorded earthquakes because of the fault line, but Sports fans cheered and stomped so vigorously that there was, for the first time in history, a man made earthquake. During the time that I lived there I experienced a 7.3 earthquake. All the buildings in Seattle and pretty mush on the west coast are secured with the right technology to survive a quake.