As defined by Richter on a Wood-Anderson seismograph, what is the difference in amplitude between a magnitude 6 and magnitude 8 earthquake?

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Multiple Choice

As defined by Richter on a Wood-Anderson seismograph, what is the difference in amplitude between a magnitude 6 and magnitude 8 earthquake?

Explanation:
On a Wood-Anderson seismograph, the recorded amplitude grows tenfold for each unit increase in magnitude. This means the amplitude is proportional to 10^M. Therefore, increasing the magnitude from 6 to 8 multiplies the amplitude by 10^(8−6) = 10^2 = 100. So the M8 earthquake would produce an amplitude 100 times larger than the M6 event. (Note: energy release would be about 1000 times larger, since energy scales with roughly 10^(1.5M), but the question asks about amplitude.)

On a Wood-Anderson seismograph, the recorded amplitude grows tenfold for each unit increase in magnitude. This means the amplitude is proportional to 10^M. Therefore, increasing the magnitude from 6 to 8 multiplies the amplitude by 10^(8−6) = 10^2 = 100. So the M8 earthquake would produce an amplitude 100 times larger than the M6 event. (Note: energy release would be about 1000 times larger, since energy scales with roughly 10^(1.5M), but the question asks about amplitude.)

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