SOLUTION: I was reading that a 4.7 on the richter earthquake is 32 times worse than a 3.7 event How can that be? Since it is a log scale it would seem that it would be 10 times worse. The

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Question 1072356: I was reading that a 4.7 on the richter earthquake is 32 times worse than a 3.7 event How can that be? Since it is a log scale it would seem that it would be 10 times worse. The word energy was also used in the question - does that make a difference
Answer by Fombitz(32388)   (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Richter scale measures amplitude of the event so a whole number change is 10 fold increase in amplitude.
Energy released by an event is a 31.6 fold increase with a whole number change.
So it's apples and oranges.

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