How many times more intense was one earthquake to another?

Question

On January 9, 2008, an earthquake in northern Algeria measuring 4.81 on the Richter scale killed 1 person and on May 12, 2008, an earthquake in China measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale killed 67,180 people. How many times more intense was the earthquake in China than the one in northern Algeria?

Answer 1

Hi Taylor,

 

The Richter scale is logarithmic and the scale is the exponent of base ten.

 

so the magnitude of the 7.9 would be 10^7.9

 

and the magnitude of the 4.81 would be 10^4.81

 

if we divide these two values

 

10^7.9 / 10^4.81

 

we get 10^3.09 

 

and this number is greater than 1000

 

so the magnitude of the 7.9 versus the 4.81 is over 1000 times greater.

 

Hope this helps