What is the Richter scale formula?
The Richter scale defines the magnitude of an earthquake to be R=log(IcIn) where Ic is the intensity of the earthquake and In is the intensity of a standard earthquake. Therefore, you can write the difference of two magnitudes as R2−R1=log(I2I1).
Why is it called the Richter scale?
The Richter scale was developed in 1935 by American seismologist Charles Richter (1891-1989) as a way of quantifying the magnitude, or strength, of earthquakes. Richter’s scale was modeled on the stellar magnitude scale used by astronomers, which quantifies the amount of light emitted by stars (their luminosity).
How does a Richter scale look like?
The Richter scale is used to rate the magnitude of an earthquake — the amount of energy it released. This is calculated using information gathered by a seismograph. The Richter scale is logarithmic, meaning that whole-number jumps indicate a tenfold increase. In this case, the increase is in wave amplitude.
What is Richter scale short answer?
Richter scale. [ rĭk′tər ] A logarithmic scale used to rate the strength or total energy of earthquakes. The scale has no upper limit but usually ranges from 1 to 9. Because it is logarithmic, an earthquake rated as 5 is ten times as powerful as one rated as 4.
What does the Richter Scale mean in practice?
So, what does the definition of Richter magnitude mean in practice. Well, the logarithmic nature of the scale means that: Adding 1 to the (Richter) magnitude represents 10 times the size of trace on the seismograph Adding 2 to the magnitude represents 100 times the amplitude on the seismograph
How much energy does the Richter scale release?
This is because, each whole number on this scale corresponds to a tenfold increase, as well as release of about 31 times more energy than the preceding value, in the measured amplitude.
How does the magnitude of an earthquake increase on the Richter scale?
In the case of the Richter scale, the increase is in wave amplitude. That is, the wave amplitude in a level 6 earthquake is 10 times greater than in a level 5 earthquake, and the amplitude increases 100 times between a level 7 earthquake and a level 9 earthquake. The amount of energy released increases 31.7 times between whole number values.
When did Charles Richter invent the logarithmic scale?
It was developed by Charles F. Richter of the California Institute of Technology in 1935. It is a logarithmic scale that ranges from 0 to over 10. Each unit of increase on this scale, corresponds to an increase by a factor of 10, and the magnitude is expressed in the form of whole numbers and decimal fractions.
