Draft: this lesson was written with AI help and has not yet been read by a human editor.
1 What your class asks
This lesson asks you to assess ways people reduce the harm that forces from nature do to structures, and to describe features and materials that let a structure withstand such forces. The museum offers one city building and what its builders changed after earthquakes. Rural and remote communities, other structures and the materials themselves are for your class to study. 1
Curriculum expectations, with their official codes
- D1.2 assess various ways in which humans mitigate impacts of forces from natural phenomena on structures in urban, rural, and remote communities
- D2.3 describe forces resulting from natural phenomena that can have severe consequences for human-built structures, and identify structural features and materials that can allow such structures to withstand these forces
2 The lesson
What can a builder change after a structure fails?
List what was changed in the building you read about, then say which change addressed the shape, which the supports and which the walls.
How would you test whether a change helps?
Build a small model from paper or blocks and shake the table. Decide in advance what you will watch for, and change one thing at a time.
Go deeper
When the emperor Justinian had Hagia Sophia rebuilt, he required that the new building be proof against both fire and earthquake, so the architects chose a dome-and-cupola design 2. Still, the eastern part of the dome collapsed in an earthquake on 7 May 558 3. The dome had been designed too flat, so it was raised by more than 20 feet and the supports of the great pillars were strengthened 3. The Encyclopaedia of Islam says the mosque has not suffered from earthquakes since the tenth century, and credits this largely to the buttresses that the last Byzantines and the Turks put up against three sides of the walls 4.
Think about it
The first dome of Hagia Sophia was designed too flat and fell in an earthquake, and the builders raised it and strengthened its supports. Does that make you trust the building more or less than one that never failed, and why?
Into the museum
- Hagia Sophia: the building's story, from the first fire to the buttresses.
- The rebuilding of al-Aqsa: another building rebuilt after an earthquake.
- The earthquake of 425 AH: what fell in Ramla, Jerusalem and Ascalon.
Try this
Read about Hagia Sophia. Make a timeline of the earthquakes it names, what gave way each time, and what was built or changed afterward.
3 Carry it further
Where this lesson leads in the museum.
4 Check yourself
Nothing here is marked or sent anywhere. It is for you.
In your own words: what does Hagia Sophia have to do with this lesson?
Compare with the card
A dome raised after an earthquake. The emperor required that the new building be proof against both fire and earthquake, so the architects chose a dome-and-cupola design. Even so, the eastern part of the dome collapsed in an earthquake on 7 May 558. The dome had been designed too flat, so it was raised by more than 20 feet and the supports of the great pillars were strengthened. What does that repair tell you about the forces on a dome?
In your own words: what does Hagia Sophia have to do with this lesson?
Compare with the card
Buttresses against later earthquakes. Part of the dome collapsed again in an earthquake on 26 October 986, and the flying buttresses on the western facade probably date from that time. Mehmed II built great buttresses against the south wall, and Selim II and Murad III built others. The article says the mosque has not suffered from earthquakes since the tenth century and credits this largely to the buttresses. Which feature of a building would you check first?
I can now
Notes
- 1. Ontario Ministry of Education, The Ontario Curriculum: Science and Technology, Grades 1–8 (2022)
- 2. Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd edition (Leiden: Brill, 1954–2008), 13 volumes, vol. 1 p. 823-824
- 3. Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd edition (Leiden: Brill, 1954–2008), 13 volumes, vol. 1 p. 824
- 4. Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd edition (Leiden: Brill, 1954–2008), 13 volumes, vol. 1 p. 825-826