![]() ![]() Remember, you have to be using a particular kind of seismograph located 100 km from the epicenter when you make the measurement otherwise, all sorts of complicated calculations have to be made. So, to make it easier to compare the sizes of the waves he recorded, Richter used the logarithms of the wave heights on seismograms measured in microns (1/1,000,000th of a meter, or 1/1000th of a millimeter). Richter studied records from many earthquakes in southern California, and realized that some earthquakes made very small waves whereas others produced large waves. The epicenter of an earthquake is the point on the Earth's surface directly above the source, or focus, of the movement that causes the quake.ĭr. Richter used amplified movements by a factor of 3000, so the waves on the seismograms were much bigger than those that actually occurred in the Earth. In the early days, seismograms were produced using ink pens on paper or beams of light on photographic paper, but now it's most often done digitally using computers. The output of a seismograph is known as a seismogram. Think of a seismograph as a kind of sensitive pendulum that records the shaking of the Earth. It is a measure of the largest seismic wave recorded on a particular kind of seismograph located 100 kilometers (about 62 miles) from the epicenter of the earthquake. ![]() Charles Richter, a seismologist at the California Institute of Technology. The Richter scale was invented, logically enough, in the 1930s by Dr. Details at ten." Did you ever wonder why, if it's that important, they just don't tell you right away? Something like, "A magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck Japan today. Magnitude is a measure of the amount of energy released during an earthquake, and you've probably heard news reports about earthquake magnitudes measured using the Richter scale. You have probably heard of the Richter scale which is still used for small earthquakes, but most large earthquakes are now commonly reported using the moment magnitude scale (see below). There are two ways in which scientists quantify the size of earthquakes: magnitude and intensity. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |