If an earthquake measured 5.9 on the Richter scale, what was the intensity of the earthquake?
Aug 31, 2009
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Earthquake Questions
If an earthquake measured 5.9 on the Richter scale, what was the intensity of the earthquake?
Use the formula M= log (A / A(base o).
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One comment
erkbergles on August 31, 2009 at 9:25 am
Since the earthquake measured 5.9, that means that M = 5.9. A_0 is the intensity of the reference earthquake which is 1. Now solve for A.
5.9 = log (A/1)
10^5.9 = A/1
A = 794328 microns
A is the amplitude of the wave on a seismograph in microns.