An earthquake of magnitude 7 releases times as much energy as a magnitude 3 earthquake.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The Richter scale, which measures earthquake magnitude, is logarithmic. Each whole number increase on the scale represents a tenfold increase in measured amplitude and roughly 31.6 times more energy release. Therefore, a magnitude 7 earthquake releases about 10,000 times as much energy as a magnitude 3 earthquake (10^4 times more energy).

An Earthquake of Magnitude 7 Releases Times as Much Energy