Why do earthquakes usually happen during the day?
Apr 21, 2010
in
Earthquake Questions
Am I ill informed, or does it seem/feel like earthquakes rarely happen at night?
I meant large quakes, not those little things that do nothing. And please don’t be smart with me. Yes obviously its night time somewhere else. I mean at that place where it happens.
It feels like most measurable, newsworthy quakes, happen during the day.
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8 comments
Morpheus on April 21, 2010 at 4:08 pm
Actually, seems like they always happen at night and add to the panic of people. But actually they happen any old time – when you’re THE EARTH, you get to pick the time.
Broken forever on April 21, 2010 at 4:08 pm
Well, because if they happen at night, they will wake people up & people wont know they happened… dah?
thatartistwin on April 21, 2010 at 4:08 pm
I have been in an earthquake in California. It was a 6.2 on the scale and happened at night while we were sleeping.
pwagner22 on April 21, 2010 at 4:08 pm
Hmm… it does seem most earthquakes happen during the day. Maybe it has to do with something involving the sun or gravitational pull, etc. I’m sure someone knows.
spunk113 on April 21, 2010 at 4:08 pm
They happen at night, you just don’t hear as much about those–usually there’s less damage, less panic, etc. I actually slept through a light quake once when I was kid. Also, remember, at any given moment it’s night somewhere, so the quake that happens at 11 am where you are is happening at 2 am somewhere else.
Paul on April 21, 2010 at 4:08 pm
Actually earthquakes happen all the time and there is no correlation between the time of day and when an earthquake happens. Here is a website that shows recent earthquakes in the U.S.: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/ as you can see there is a bunch and all of them happening throughout the day
Wallaby Jones on April 21, 2010 at 4:08 pm
The sun has more of a gravitational pull than the moon does. So during the day there is more of a stress put on the earth’s crust than at night. Fault lines are basically the weak links in a chain.
The Almighty Burger on April 21, 2010 at 4:08 pm
In 2007 when I was in 7th grade, I experienced a 5.6 at about 8 PM…I hope another one doesn’t occur, their happening everywhere!