Afghanistan suffered two major earthquakes in 1998. The one on Feb 4 had a Richter magnitude of 6.1 causing 2300 deaths, and the other one on May 30 measured 6.9 on the Richter scale, killing about 4700 people. How many times more powerful was the deadlier quake?
Please help? I don't even know where to start and have been trying it for hours :(
2007-11-13 17:07:18 · 2 answers · asked by r5091 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Mathematics
Richter scale measures amplitude of ground displacement using base 10 logarithms. So (10^6.9)/(10^6.1) = 10^0.8 = 6.3 times as powerful. Released energy, on the other hand, has a base of 32, so 32^0.8 = 16 times the energy. Odds are good the answer you want is the 1st one. See the link.
2007-11-13 17:17:49 · answer #1 · answered by Philo 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
As what ive remembered Richter magnitude 8 is 10,000 times stronger than Richter magnitude 4. hehe
2007-11-14 01:12:53 · answer #2 · answered by rnygelle87 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋