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
[] about 42.36 times as much energy
[] about 0.70 times as much energy
[] about 5.01 times as much energy
[] about 21 times as much energy
The energy released by an earthquake is proportional to the 10^(1.5*M), where M is the Richter Scale measure.
For the earthquake in Afghanistan:
Energy = 10^(1.5*6.9) = 10^10.35
For the earthquake in Mexico:
Energy = 10^(1.5*7.6) = 10^11.4
So, the earthquake in Mexico released about 10^11.4 / 10^10.35 = 10^(11.4-10.35) = 10^1.05 = 10 times more energy than the earthquake in Afghanistan.
Therefore, about 10 times more energy was released by the earthquake in Mexico than by the earthquake in Afghanistan. This is approximately equal to the option:
[] about 5.01 times as much energy