Question

To find the energy of Earthquakes (measured in Joules) scientists use the equation: E = (2.5 x 104) x 101.5M where M is the magnitude of the earthquake. The 1989 San Francisco earthquake, which killed 90 people, had a magnitude of 7.1. Compare the energy of that earthquake with the 2003 earthquake that destroyed the ancient city of Bam, Iran, which had magnitude 6.3 and killed an estimated 50,000 people

Answer 1

The San Francisco earthquake was about 16 times more powerful.

Explanation:

Answer 2

In this case we have the following equation:

`E = (2.5 * 10 ^ 4) * 101.5M`
What we must do is replace the value of M for each of the cases.
We have then:

For San Francisco:

`E = (2.5 * 10 ^ 4) * 101.5 * 7.1 E = 18016250 J`

For Bam, Iran:

`E = (2.5 * 10 ^ 4) * 101.5 * 6.3 E = 15986250 J`

The difference between both maginitudes is:

`18016250 - 15986250 = 2030000 J`

Answer:
The energy of the San Francisco earthquake was 2030000 J larger than the earthquake energy of the city of Bam, Iran.