And so by studying the rate at which these waves travel. 17 What is the purpose of a model. Pin On Religious Questions In the troposphere temperature decreases as elevation increases. . One challenge of using satellite and instrumental data is that their lifespans have been rather short when compared to Earths life. B Scientist use models because doing so is always part of the scientific method. Seismic waves are recorded by a machine called a seismograph which tells us about the strength and speed of the seismic wavesThese recordings made by a seismograph are called seismogramsSeismic waves travel at different speeds when they pass through different types of material so by studying seismograms scientists can learn a lot about Earths internal structure. They use them to represent complex objects or models and to test a hypothesis. They study the Earths environment and resources as well as determine the effects of human act...