How is earthquake intensity measured using the Richter scale?

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SUMMARY

The discussion focuses on the measurement of earthquake intensity using the Richter scale, defined by the formula R = log10(I/I0), where I is the earthquake's intensity and I0 is a standard intensity. Key calculations demonstrate that an earthquake with a Richter scale reading of R = 4 has an intensity 10,000 times greater than the standard, while an earthquake measuring R = 6 is 100 times more intense than one measuring R = 4. The 1985 Mexico City earthquake, which measured 8.1 on the Richter scale, corresponds to an intensity of 1.26 x 108 I0.

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  • Understanding logarithmic functions and their properties
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vadlamudit
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how do you express in exponential form?
a) log (4) 16 = 2 ans: 16 = 4^2
b) log (16) 2 = 1/4 ans: 2 = 16^1/4
c) log (2) 1/16 = -4 ans: 1/16 = 2^-4
d) 2^5 = 32 how do you express in log form? ans: 5 = log (2) 32
e) 36^1/2 = 6 ans: 1/2 = log (36) 6
f) 4^-4 = 1/81 ans: -4 = log (3) [1/81]
g) log (3) 81 =? ans: 4
h) log (2) 1/64 ? ans: -6
i) log (3) (27)^1/2 ans: 3/2
j) log (1/2) 4 ans: -2
k) log(10) 5 - log (10) 50 ans: -1
l) log (6) 18 + log (6) 12 ans: 3

how do you conve\rt to exponential form and solve for x?
a) log (2) 5x = 7 ans: 128/5
b) log (10) x^3 = 18 ans: 10^6
c) 2log (4) [8x] = 5 ans: 4
d) log(5) [3x^2] - log(5) [15x] = 3 ans: 625
e) log (x) 64 = 3/2 ans: 16

Which is larger?
a) 2log5 or 3log3 ans: 3 log 3
b) 1/2 log(2) 16 or 1/3 log (3) 27? ans: 1/2 log (2) 16

HOw do you solve for x:
a) 10^5x = 25 ans: 1/5 log 25 = 0.279
b) 2^x = 1000 ans: 3/log 2 = 9.965
c) 4^2x = 200 ans: log 200/log 16 = 1.9109

9) magnitudes of earthquatkes are measured by using the richeter scale. on thisscale, the

magnitude R of an earthquake is given by R = log (10)[I/I (subscript 0)]

wher I is the intensity of the earthquake being measured and I 0 is a fixed standanrd

intensity used for comparison.
a) show that if an earthquake measures R = 4 on the richter scale, then its intensity is 10

000 times the standard.


b) how many times morei intense is an earthquake measuring R = 6 than one measruing R = 4?
ans: 100 times more intense
c) the mexico city eartquake of 1985 measured 8.1 on the richeter scale. express its

intensity in terms of the standard intensity.
ans:1.26 x 10^8 Io
 
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