About how much more energy is released in a magnitude 4 earthquake compared to a magnitude 2 earthquake?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

A magnitude 4 earthquake releases about 1,000 times more energy than a magnitude 2 earthquake. This is based on the logarithmic scale used to measure earthquake magnitudes, where each whole number increase on the Richter scale represents a tenfold increase in measured amplitude and roughly 31.6 times more energy release. Therefore, a 2-step increase (from 2 to 4) results in approximately 1,000 times more energy being released.

About How Much More Energy Is Released in a Magnitude