Earthquakes And Logarithms

Earthquakes and Logarithms
Earthquakes are responsible for a wast majority of natural hazards on our planet. This natural geological phenomena are almost impossible to predict, and they occur usually in zones of the planet that are prone to movement in the uppermost crust of the earth. Certain areas are more likely to experience earthquakes, and also the aftermath of the earthquakes can be just as destructive or sometimes even more. Different methods of measuring earthquakes have been implemented to make understand its magnitude and potential destructive habits. One method of measuring the magbnitudes is by implementing mathematics and logarithms, the Richter scale was developed by Charles F richter to measure the size of an earthquake, I will
Richter of the Californian institte of technology developed a method to record and measure seismic activity with seismograms. By using his observations and mathematical techniques, he developed the Richter scale, Which is a Logarithmic scale, that increases exponentioally the greater the magnitude of an earthquake. Richter proved that the further away a seismograph is from the source, the smaller the amplitude, and vice versa. According to Lindtrom (1988) Richter discover the exponentially increasing amplitude as the earthquakes got larger, in fact as much as 10 milliomn times that of the smaller ones. To condense his theory, He implemented Log A (base 10). (LIndtrom 1988). The earthquakes magnitude is determined by the Log of the amplitude of the waves that are recorded by the seismographs. (USGS) The magnitude are expressed in in whole numbers and decimals. A magnitude 5.3 earthquake ios a moderate earthquake, however, a magnitude 6.3 earthqake is very strong according to the richter scale, these numbers seem close, but are very different in magnitude and size. (USGS). Because eof its Logarithmic base, each whole number increases in tenfolds, and each step represent 31 times more energy release than the preceding number. As each Log 10 increases, the magnitude increases exponentially. Microearthquakes are those of magnitude 2.0 or less, and little to no damage is recorded. However, 6.0 or above will great devestation and fatalities may occur. One of the largest earthquakes was the 1964 Alaskan earthquake with a magnitude of 8.0, According to USGS, one earthquake of this size or larger happens somewhere in the world, once a