Richter scale: Difference between revisions

The [[energy]] release of an earthquake,<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Vassiliou | first1 = Marius | last2 = Kanamori | first2 = Hiroo | year = 1982 | title = The Energy Release in Earthquakes | journal = Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am. | volume = 72 | pages = 371–387 }}</ref> which closely correlates to its destructive power, scales with the {{frac|3|2}} power of the shaking amplitude (see [[Moment_magnitude_scaleMoment magnitude scale]] for an explanation). Thus, a difference in magnitude of 1.0 is equivalent to a factor of 31.6 (<math>=({10^{1.0}})^{(3/2)}</math>) in the energy released; a difference in magnitude of 2.0 is equivalent to a factor of 1000 (<math>=({10^{2.0}})^{(3/2)}</math>) in the energy released.<ref>{{cite journal |first=William |last=Spence |first2=Stuart A. |last2=Sipkin |first3=George L. |last3=Choy |url=https://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/topics/measure.php |title=Measuring the Size of an Earthquake |journal=Earthquakes and Volcanoes |volume=21 |number=1 |year=1989}}</ref> The elastic energy radiated is best derived from an integration of the radiated spectrum, but an estimate can be based on {{M|b}} because most energy is carried by the high frequency waves.