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By Mary Bellis, About.com Guide to Inventors since 1997

Who Invented the Seismograph?

Friday April 25, 2008
dragon jarSeismic waves are the vibrations from earthquakes that travel through the Earth; they are recorded on instruments called seismographs. The first crude seismograph was the dragon jar. The dragon jar was a cylindrical jar with eight dragonheads arranged around its brim; each dragon had a ball in its mouth. Around the foot of the jar were eight frogs, each directly under a dragonhead. When an earthquake happened a ball dropped from a dragon's mouth and was caught by the frog's mouth. Photo credit: LOC

Comments

May 7, 2008 at 10:25 am
(1) Ana says:

It is amazing…no wonder I am studeying in China naw…Chinese people had a great nation for the last 5000years…well…not the same after the cultural revolution…

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