Question

In a certain year, a magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck California. In another year, a magnitude 5.6 earthquake struck North Dakota. How many times as intense as the North Dakota quake was the California quake?

Answer 1

The California earthquake was 100 times more intense than the North Dakota earthquake as per the Richter scale.

Step-by-step explanation:

The intensity of an earthquake is determined using the Richter scale, which is a logarithmic scale. On this scale, each whole number increase represents a tenfold increase in the measured amplitude of the seismic waves and corresponds to approximately 31.6 times more energy release.

The difference in magnitude between the California quake at 7.6 and the North Dakota quake at 5.6 is 2.0. Because the Richter scale is a base-10 logarithmic scale, we calculate intensity using the formula 10magnitude difference. So, the California quake is 102.0 times more intense than the North Dakota quake.

Calculating this, we find that the California earthquake was 100 times more intense than the North Dakota earthquake.