The diagrams show what happens when P waves and S waves pass through the Earth ... It is the slowest of the three types of seismic wave. Surface waves usually have larger amplitude than the ...

Because P waves are the fastest seismic waves, they will usually be the first ones that your seismograph records. The next set of seismic waves on your seismogram will be the S waves. These are ...

Distances from the stations to the earthquake are estimated from the difference between P and S wave arrival times: You have just figured out how far your seismograph is from the epicenter and how ...