The table shows the location and magnitude of some notable earthquakes. How many times more energy was released by the earthquake in Mexico than by the earthquake in Afghanistan?
Earthquake Location Date Richter Scale Measure
Italy October 31, 2002 5.9
El Salvador February 13, 2001 6.6
Afghanistan May 30, 1998 6.9
Mexico January 22, 2003 7.6
Peru June 23, 2001 8.1
To determine how many times more energy was released by the earthquake in Mexico than by the earthquake in Afghanistan, we can compare their Richter Scale measures.
The Richter Scale is logarithmic, meaning that each increase of 1 on the scale represents a tenfold increase in the amplitude of the seismic waves and approximately 31.6 times more energy release.
The earthquake in Afghanistan had a Richter Scale measure of 6.9, while the earthquake in Mexico had a Richter Scale measure of 7.6.
To calculate the difference in energy release, we subtract the Richter Scale measure of the Afghanistan earthquake from the Richter Scale measure of the Mexico earthquake: 7.6 - 6.9 = 0.7.
Since each 1 on the Richter Scale represents approximately 31.6 times more energy release, we can calculate the difference in energy release by raising 31.6 to the power of the difference in Richter Scale measures: 31.6^0.7 ≈ 19.57.
Therefore, the earthquake in Mexico released approximately 19.57 times more energy than the earthquake in Afghanistan.