Multiple choice

The difference in magnitude of a 6.5 earthquake and an 8.5 earthquake is

  1. 10 times more energy

  2. 20 times more energy

  3. 100 times more energy

  4. 1000 times more energy
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

The Richter scale is logarithmic, where each whole number increase represents a tenfold increase in measured amplitude, but approximately 32 times more energy released. However, standard multiple-choice conventions often approximate magnitude steps or evaluate energy scaling as 10 to the power of 1.5 times per step, making a difference of 2.0 magnitude units equal to 10^(1.5 * 2) = 10^3 = 1000 times more energy.

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