In 1995, Japan had an earthquake of magnitude 7.2. What is the magnitude of an earthquake that is twice as intense?
Nevermind, I figured it out.
7.5
To calculate the magnitude of an earthquake that is twice as intense as a given magnitude, you can use the logarithmic scale called the Richter scale. The Richter scale is a base-10 logarithmic scale that measures the amplitude of seismic waves produced by an earthquake.
To find the magnitude of an earthquake twice as intense, you'll need to increase the original magnitude by 1 on the Richter scale. This means you need to add 1 to the given magnitude of 7.2.
Therefore, the magnitude of an earthquake that is twice as intense as a magnitude 7.2 earthquake would be:
Magnitude 7.2 + 1 = Magnitude 8.2
To find the magnitude of an earthquake that is twice as intense as a given magnitude, we need to understand the logarithmic nature of earthquake magnitudes. The commonly used scale to measure earthquake intensities is the Richter scale.
The Richter scale is logarithmic, which means that each increasing whole number on the scale represents an earthquake with ten times greater shaking amplitude and about 31.6 times more energy release. In other words, each whole number increase on the Richter scale corresponds to an earthquake that is ten times stronger than the previous one.
In this scenario, the given magnitude is 7.2. To calculate the magnitude of an earthquake that is twice as intense, we need to increase the magnitude by one whole number, as each whole number increase indicates ten times greater intensity.
Therefore, to determine the magnitude of an earthquake that is twice as intense as a magnitude 7.2 earthquake, add 1 to the given magnitude:
7.2 + 1 = 8.2
So, an earthquake that is twice as intense as a magnitude 7.2 earthquake would have a magnitude of 8.2 on the Richter scale.