A Pudsey school’s science department has returned from its summer holiday to find its seismometer had recorded the aftermath of North Korea’s latest nuclear weapons test.
Last Sunday’s underground explosion resulting from the hydrogen bomb created a magnitude-6.3 tremor, which was picked up more than 5,000 miles away by Fulneck School’s sensitive instrument.
Fulneck School’s Head of Physics Dr Caroline Neuberg said:
“What I find amazing in this sad event is how small the world is, and that such an occurrence on the other side of the world can be detected by such a physically simple mechanism.
“Over the years, our seismometer has detected events all over world, including Nepal’s 2015 devastating earthquake. Sadly, this is the first time we have recorded a tremor caused by the testing of a nuclear weapon.”
Earlier this year, Fulneck was awarded foundation level of the British Council’s prestigious International School Award, thanks to the physics department’s earthquake measuring project – which, over the last three years – has received major European Union funding via the Erasmus + programme.
During this time it worked closely with three other schools in the UK, France and Italy, and Fulneck pupils visited their peers in southern England, Nice and Naples to develop low cost, reliable seismometers to be used by schools in Kenya.
