How much stronger is a magnitude 5 earthquake than a magnitude 3 earthquake?
1 Answer
Jan 17, 2017
A magnitude 5 earthquake would be 100 times stronger than a magnitude 3 earthquake.
Explanation:
The Richter scale, used to measure earthquake magnitudes, is a base 10 logarithmic scale. This means that a magnitude 5 quake would be 10 times stronger than a magnitude 4 (10^1 power), and would be 100 times stronger than a magnitude 3 (10^2 power).
This estimate is only accurate using the Richter scale, and much more subjective measurements of earthquake power and energy output are calculated using more complex equations.
