What is the difference between p-waves, s-waves, and surface waves? Which do the most damage? Please and thank you!

Answer 1

Never mind figured it out.

Answer 2

P waves (or "longitudinal waves") travel through fluids, and solids. They are compression waves and rely on the compressional strength and elasticity of the materials to propagate. They are known as body waves because they travel though the body of a material in all directions and not just at the surface, as water waves do. For P waves, the motion of the meterial particles that transmit the energy move parallel to the direction of propagation. P waves travel the same way as sound waves in air. The transmission of compressional waves is due to the strong electronic between atoms that get squeezed together too tightly. P waves are the fastest seismic waves ^M and travel at roughly 6.0 km/s in the crust (more than seven times the speed of sound).