Environmental Science
Advanced

Richter Magnitude Energy

Approximate energy released by an earthquake.

Formula

log⁡10E=4.8+1.5M\log_{10}E = 4.8 + 1.5M

Variables

EEnergy (joules)
MMagnitude

Example

Each unit is ~32× more energy

Did You Know?

A magnitude 7 releases about 1000× the energy of a magnitude 5.

earthseismic