In my chat with Jesse Bering for Bloggingheads, I tried to explain a little bit about why earthquakes happen at subduction zones, like the one near the coast of Japan. Lacking props, I used my hands to mock up the motion of one tectonic plate sliding beneath another. This video—made by science blogger Matt Kuchta—does a much better job of demonstrating the same thing. If you want to understand earthquakes a little better, I highly recommend reading the whole blog post that goes with this video.
What are the forces at work here? We have tectonic forces, pushing the pacific plate beneath the island arc of Japan. The weight of the island arc pushes against the subducting pacific plate and creates a resisting, friction force that opposes the tectonic force driving the plates. When all forces are equal, nothing moves. As long as the friction force opposes the tectonic force, the plates will not move. But eventually, the applied tectonic force exceeds the friction force, and the plates move. This movement shakes the crust and releases energy (seismic waves) that travels through the earth. The more sudden and longer the movement, the stronger the shaking/earthquake.
For our "Earthquake Machine," the friction is provided by the brick and the sandpaper. The tectonic force is applied by pulling on the string (which is attached to the spring). The spring transfers the tension to the brick. Once the "tectonic" force exceeds the friction force the brick will slip forward – but only a short distance. The friction causes the brick to slow down and the applied force drops. The spring accumulates some of the tension by deforming (strain), then the accumulated strain can be released. When the spring's force diminishes to that less than the friction force, the brick stops moving; it sticks. The strain on the spring increases again until another slip. This is often referred to stick-slip behavior and is why many active faults don't shake all the time.
Via Chris Rowan
