2007-02-22 04:59:54 · 7 answers · asked by A.J. M 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Earth Sciences & Geology
Each number is stronger than the previous number by about a factor of ten. Going from 2 to 8 is 6 jumps so 8 is stronger by about ten times itself six times (10x10x10x10x10x10) or 1 million times stronger.
Additional Information: From the USGS Website:
"Because of the logarithmic basis of the scale, each whole number increase in magnitude represents a tenfold increase in measured amplitude; as an estimate of energy, each whole number step in the magnitude scale corresponds to the release of about 31 times more energy than the amount associated with the preceding whole number value."
The question asked is a bit ambiguous in that the term "stronger" was not defined. The Richter scale is is logarithmic to the base ten as pertains to amplitude so my answer is narrowly correct. Others are correct with respect to the energy increasing by a factor of 30 with each jump in Richter number. So, in terms of energy and 8 is 31 to the sixth more powerful than a 2 (887,503,681) a little under a billion .
Good question. It is always nice to learn something new.
2007-02-22 05:05:55 · answer #1 · answered by Flyboy 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Hi,
Sorry to all the other people who have answered. I am actually studying earthquakes and for each mark up the Richter scale, they increase by 30.
so 2 is 30x more powerful than 1 and 3 is 30x more powerful that 2 etc.
However it measures the power and not the destructiveness or anything else.
2007-02-22 13:10:45 · answer #2 · answered by Dougie 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Each number up is ten times stronger. so 3 is 10x's stronger that a 2. And a 4 on the scale is 100 times stronget than a 2 and so on.
2007-02-22 13:41:58 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
See this chart for the energy released for each Richter scale in TNT equivalent.
1. 30 lbs Approximate TNT for
2. 1 ton Seismic Energy Yield
3. 29 ton
4. 1000 ton
5. 32000 ton
6. 1 million ton
7. 32 million ton
8. 1 billion ton
9. 32 billion ton
10 1 trillion ton.
2007-02-23 07:52:04 · answer #4 · answered by A.Ganapathy India 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's 1 million times stronger ((10 raised to the (8 -2 ) power )
2007-02-22 13:05:59 · answer #5 · answered by Gene 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
The easy answer is 6 orders of magnitude; but, put in perspective:
a 2.0 is equivalent to 1 metric ton of TNT
a 8.0 is equivalent to 1 gigaton of TNT
So, that means an 8.0 is about 1 billion times stronger than a 2.0.
A 9.0 would be 5.6 gigatons, and a 10.0 would be 1 teraton (or about 1 trillion times greater than a 2.0).
2007-02-22 13:08:46 · answer #6 · answered by the foolish fox 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
4 times.
2007-02-22 13:02:42 · answer #7 · answered by FKC 4 · 0⤊ 2⤋