What does a Magnitude mean when a earthquake happens?

Question

example 7.6 magnitude earthquake

Answer 1

On the scale, the increases are of 10 x the previous level. It doesn't sound like much, but if you start with a 1, and end with a 7, you will see it is a lot stronger. Journalists often confuse magnitude with another scale which includes net damages and death toll. This is not magnitude.

Peace

Answer 2

The magnitude is a measure of the amount of calculated energy released by the earthquake.

It is commonly referred to as the Richter Scale where each number is actually 10 times the energy of the next lower number. For example, if you called 1 the amount of energy released when you dropped a 1 pound ball on the floor, a 2 would be the amount of energy released when you dropped a 10 pound ball, a 3 would be the amount released by a 100 pound ball, a 4 would be 1000, a 5 would be 10,000 pound ball, a 6 would be a 100,000 pound ball, a 7 would be 1,000,000 pound ball, etc. So you can see go up only one number makes a big difference in the amount of energy that would be released.

NOTE: THIS IS NOT REALLY HOW IT IS, this is just an example of how the Richter scale can be understood -- the actual amount of energy released depends on the type of movement, the depth, etc.

Answer 3

"Since seismologists cannot directly observe rupture in the Earth's interior, they rely on geodetic measurements and numerical experiments to analyze seismic waves and accurately assess severity of earthquakes. The severity of an earthquake can be measured in terms of magnitude and intensity. For that seismologists use two fundamentally different but equally important types of scales. The original force or energy of an earthquake is measured on a magnitude scale. The Richter scale is a well known example of a magnitude scale. The second type of scale measures the intensity of shaking occurring at any given point on the Earth's surface. These scales are referred to as intensity scales. The Mercalli intensity scale, which measures the effects of the seismic waves, is an example of a commonly used intensity scale."

This, and more, available on the free, online encyclopedia, Wikipedia at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquakes

"Richter magnitude test scale (or more correctly local magnitude ML scale) assigns a single number to quantify the size of an earthquake. It is a base-10 logarithmic scale obtained by calculating the logarithm of the combined horizontal amplitude of the largest displacement from zero on a seismometer output. Measurements have no limits and can be either positive or negative."

From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richter_magnitude_scale

So, a 7.6 magnitude is the magnitude of the Richter scale.

Hope this helps!

Answer 4

Please visit my slide show at URL
http://asia.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/quake
It is connected with the amount of energy released during earth quake. You will see the amount of energy released wise each Richter scale in my slide show, it is TNT equivalent. TNT is one type of standard gun powder. Mr Charles Richter from Pasadena University found a method in the year 1935 to measure the amount of energy released from earthquakes for the local California state only. We need the seismograph picture to calculate the magnitude. It is logarithmic and open ended. So for the highest ever recorded after the invention of Richter scale is 9.5. The Tsunami struck at Sumatra on 26th Dec 2004 released the energy equivalent to 9.3 on Richter scale. Each one on Richter scale represents ten fold changes in amplitude of shaking. The amount of energy released for each Richter scale is 32 times higher. The maximum amplitude of shaking together with the epicentre distance (calculated by the difference in arrival time of primary and secondary waves) are used to deter mine the magnitude. But the more meaning full scale is Merchalli scale. It needs only people observation about the destruction. The Richter scale will not vary for single earthquake measured from any distance. But Marcalli scale will differ from place to place for a same earthquake. It measures the intensity only. It starts from 1 to 12. But unfortunately it is not in wide use. The energy released during Gujarat in India in 2001 released the energy equavalent to 7.6 on Richter scale. The total death 100,000. Last year the Japan has experienced the earthquake of magnitude 8 on Richter scale. Nearly 5 times more energy. But they have reported that only 400 people injured in that quake.

Answer 5

It in basic terms ability not something and there is not something to hassle approximately it because of the fact they are all organic and henceforth there'll actually be no link between the 2006 tsunami and the recant earthquakes .I agree that the stream of the plates because of the fact of tsunami could develop the occurrence of alternative earthquakes yet they won't be devilish!

Answer 6

If you'd like to learn how to find magnitude, there's an online lab that will teach you how. I highly recommend it. It's easy, and it's interactive.

http://www.sciencecourseware.org/VirtualEarthquake/