How is the Richter Scale calculated?
Mar 11, 2010
in
Earthquake Questions
Every website I look at tells me that the scale uses either a log base 10 equation, or a log base 32. Sometimes it says that the scale represents a 10 fold increase in the amplitude for each whole number, while some sites say that it represent a 10 fold increase in the energy release of the earthquake. I don’t understand if I’m meant to calculate values from the scale using a base of 10 or 32.
Help?
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One comment
Steve on March 11, 2010 at 9:24 am
One calculates energy, the other calculates the amount the earth is shacking (amplitude).
The diffrence between a 7.0 and 8.0 :
It is 10 times stronger in terms of the ground shacking (amplitude).
It also releases 32 times the energy.
One measures energy the other measure aplitude.