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What is the Richter scale and how is it used?
The Richter magnitude scale was developed in 1935 by Charles F. Richter of the California Institute of Technology as a mathematical device to compare the size of earthquakes. The magnitude of an earthquake is determined from the logarithm of the amplitude of waves recorded by seismographs.
What is Richter scale in simple words?
: an open-ended logarithmic scale for expressing the magnitude of a seismic disturbance (such as an earthquake) in terms of the energy dissipated in it with 1.5 indicating the smallest earthquake that can be felt, 4.5 an earthquake causing slight damage, and 8.5 a very devastating earthquake.
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.
How bad is a 3.0 earthquake?
Earthquakes measuring near 3.0 on the Richter Scale may be felt, but usually cause no harm. Earthquakes above 6.0 typically damage buildings. Earthquakes that measure 8.0 or higher are severe.
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 does the Richter scale measure the intensity of an earthquake?
It is also known as Richter magnitude scale. It is used to measure the intensity of the earthquake. A single number is assigned to quantify the amount of seismic energy released by an earthquake.
How does the logarithmic nature of the Richter scale work?
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 In turn, the energy release is related to the (3/2)th power of the maximum amplitude. So:
Are there other magnitude scales besides the Richter scale?
There are several other magnitude scales in widespread use, due to shortcomings of the original Richter scale. One such shortcoming is that the seismometer specified by the Richter scale saturates somewhere around 7 or 8 on the scale.