Could radio frequency energy be focused along a minor tectonic fault line to trigger an earthquake?
Answer If the energy released in a typical earthquake were instead focused into an RF generator, it would melt the generator. Earthquakes generate a LOT of energy spread out over several kilometers. To place that energy into a few cubic meters of volume would destroy any metallic object within that volume. Since we don’t know what triggers earthquakes — heck, we don’t know how to DETECT the triggering of an earthquake — a science fiction writer could legitimately claim that a focused RF wave could trigger one. It’s as good a plot line as any. But, with our present understanding of quakes, that would be more fiction than science.
