why is a 7.0 earthquake 10 times stronger than a 6.0 earthquake?

Answer 1

Randy G is right. It is a logarithmic scale.
They do that so you can visualize it more easily. A Richter Scale 7 is 10,000,000 (10^7) times stronger that a Richter Scale 1. A Richter Scale 3 is 1,000 (10^3) times stronger than a Richter Scale 1 - you just cannot see that very easily. The only way to visualize it is by plotting on logarithmic graph paper. Then you see 1, 3, and 7.

Answer 2

Because the scale is logarithmic, like pH (acidity/alkalinity). An earthquake measuring 8.0 on the Richter Scale would be 100 times more powerful than one measuring 6.0

Answer 3

Could be that from 6.0 to 7.0 the count goes up by 10,making it 10 times stronger..So that every time the count goes up by 1 you add a 0,so from 7.0 to 8.0 would be 100 times stronger.

Answer 4

The Richter scale increases exponentially. For every 1 the scale goes up, you add a zero to how much more powerful the quake was than the number before it.

1.
2 is 10X more than a 1
3 is 100 times more than a 2
etc.

Answer 5

The Richter scale is logarithmic.

One unit, compared to the next lower unit, is 10 times greater in magnitude.

Answer 6

Because the Richter scale is a logarithmic scale. By definition of "logarithmic", there is a factor of ten difference between each number.

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A logarithmic scale is a base 10 scale, so each number is multipled by a factor of 10.

Answer 7

Since it's a logarithm with base 10, that means that it'll increase 10x for each unit increase. Does that make sense? You're doing this for AIU Contemporary math aren't you? :D If so, me too. :D

Answer 8

because the scale is a non-linear exponential growth scale maybe?