2. Why is a 7.0 earthquake ten times stronger than a 6.0 earthquake?
542255
Eathquakes' intensities are generally measured on the Richter Scale which is a type of logarithmic scale. This scale is not linear and every successive whole number (1,2,3,4...) is 10 times its preceding whole number.\nThus a 7.0 earthquake will be 10 times in magnitude to a 6.0 one. And 8.0 would be 100 times 6.0
684386
(m)\n\nThe Twentieth Century's Largest Earthquake\n\n\nThree of the ten largest earthquakes of the twentieth century occurred in Alaska, striking in 1957, 1964, and 1965. The strongest of these (magnitude: 9.2) took place on Good Friday in 1964, hitting 80 miles east of Anchorage. The biggest earthquake of the century struck Chile on May 22, 1960. Its magnitude, the highest ever recorded, was 9.5. \n\nThe deadliest earthquake of all time is believed to have occurred on Jan. 24, 1556, in Shaanxi (Shensi) Province, China — 830,000 were killed.\n\n\nTsunami\n\n\nThe Alaskan Good Friday earthquake was followed by tsunami, or tidal waves, that reached 50 feet high and traveled a phenomenal 8,445 miles at 450 miles per hour. Tsunami is a Japanese term (tsu, port; nami, waves) presumably referring to the rising height of tsunami as they approach shore. \n\nBreaking on land, these tremendous waves can cause enormous destruction. The deadliest tsunami ever occurred on Dec, 26, 2004, killing more than 225,000 people and leaving millions homeless. \n\nIn addition to earthquakes, volcanoes can cause tsunami—after the eruption of Krakatoa on August 27, 1883, more than 36,000 people were killed by the tsunami alone.
444812
the richter scale is only as accurate as the agency that maintains it.  but for the most part they are very accurate.  the only reason i could think of as to the mountains is that the quake was close enough to a natural fault line deep in the mountain
57504
Earthquakes happen when two tectonic plates grind, scrape, push, or shove up against each other. The harder the collision, the bigger the earthquake. But, if you live in the middle of a tectonic plate, nothing will grind, scrape, push, or shove there so there will be no earthquakes there.
944523
In some areas of the world the tectonic plates press against each other with some amount of pressure. When the pressure grows too great, there is movement in one particular spot, which is then known as the epicenter. A small amount of movement is a small earthquake; a large amount equals a major earthquake.  It is a terrifying experience to be in a major earthquake -- that's why I moved away from Los Angeles.
703036
When earthquakes occur, they get seismic(?) sample with their instuments. Based on how long the sound waves take to arrive (in relation to each other) can help them determine the relative density of the core. This is because sound travels faster through denser materials, and slower through more sparse ones.
1089007
is this what your talking about\n\n\nAn earthquake is a phenomenon that results from and is powered by the sudden release of stored energy that radiates seismic waves. At the Earth's surface, earthquakes may manifest themselves by a shaking or displacement of the ground and sometimes tsunamis, which may lead to loss of life and destruction of property.\n\nEarthquakes may occur naturally or as a result of human activities. In its most generic sense, the word earthquake is used to describe any seismic event—whether a natural phenomenon or an event caused by humans—that generates seismic waves\n\nEarth (often referred to as "The Earth") is the third planet in the solar system in terms of distance from the Sun, and the fifth in order of size. It is the largest of its planetary system's terrestrial planets and the only place in the universe currently known to support life. The Earth was formed around 4.57 billion (4.57×109)[1] years ago (see Age of the Earth) and its largest natural satellite, the Moon, was orbiting it shortly thereafter, around 4.533 billion years ago.\n\nSince it formed, the Earth has evolved through geologic and biological processes so that any traces of the original conditions have been virtually eliminated. The outer surface is divided into several tectonic plates that gradually migrate across the surface over geologic time spans. The interior of the planet remains active, with a thick layer of molten mantle and an iron core that generates a magnetic field. The atmospheric conditions have been significantly altered by the presence of life forms, which create an ecological balance that modifies the surface conditions. About 70% of the surface is presently covered in salt water oceans, and the remainder consists of continents and islands.\n\nThere is significant interaction between the Earth and the space environment. The relatively large Moon provides ocean tides and has gradually modified the length of the planet's rotation period. A cometary bombardment during the early history of the planet is believed to have formed the oceans. Later, asteroid impacts are understood to have caused significant changes to the surface environment. Changes in the orbit of the planet may also be responsible for the ice ages that have covered significant portions of the surface in glacial sheets.\n\nThe Earth does not have another natural orbiting body other than the Moon, although Cruithne has been erroneously described as such. Cruithne was discovered in 1986 and follows an elliptical orbit around the Sun at about the same average orbital radius as the Earth. However, from the point of view of the moving Earth, Cruithne follows a horseshoe orbit around the Sun that avoids close proximity with the Earth.
856700
The tectonic plates were already broken before oil was drilled, it has always been that way since the earth cooled. Oil drilling is not the reason earthquakes exist.
1113009
Would you like to know the disadvantages or the differences? Ok I'll try to explain a little on both.\n\nDIFFERENCE:\n\nThe Richter scale defines an earthquake's "magnitude". It is a measure of how strong an earthquake is - depending on the energy released at its source, called the focus, where the initial break or slippage in the rocks occurs. Hence this is a scientific and objective measure, calculated from amplitudes of seismic waves.\n\nThe Mercalli scale describes the "intensity". It is based on an earthquake's effect on people, structures, etc. It measures the damage on society - in other words, how intense it was for a particular area. This means it is not concerned about the earthquake source, simply on the area that is being described, and is therefore a subjective measure.\n\nDISADVANTAGES:\n\nWell, there aren't REAL disadvantages in using either scale, in fact, both should be used in order to evaluate a certain earthquake. The disadvantages lie in using only one of these, or not knowing which is which! But if you're reading the news, they're easy to distinguish: Richter is in Hindu-Arabic numerals (normal numbers) so you get 7 or 8.5, etc. Mercalli is denoted in Roman numerals, like VII, and no decimals of course.\n\nJust bear in mind that the Richter Magnitude is about the earthquake source itself, and the Mercalli Intensity depending on the area being considered. For example, a very strong earthquake in the middle of an uninhabited wasteland would register high on the Richter but low on the Mercalli, simply because there were no people or structures to affect. If a weak earthquake occured right in an area with many people having unstable houses, then this would cause a lot of damage or death and therefore register high on the Mercalli, although low on the Richter.\n\nHope this helps :)
854011
Earthquakes are the Earth's natural means of releasing stress. When the Earth's plates move against each other, stress is put on the lithosphere. When this stress is great enough, the lithosphere. \n\nAs the plates move they put forces on themselves and each other. When the force is large enough, the crust is forced to break. When the break occurs, the stress is released as energy which moves through the Earth in the form of waves, which we feel and call an earthquake. \n\nThe earth is made of around 7 major plates. These plates are part of the earths crust and are floating of top of an area of the earth known as the mantle. This is the driving mechanism for the plates. Most Earthquakes are caused by Plate Tectonics. The earth's crust consists of a number of sections or plates that float on the molten rock of the mantle. These plates move on convection currents caused by heat rising from the center of the earth. The hot magma rises and spreads out on the surface, creating new crust. The crust spreads out forming a new plate until it meets another plate. One of the plates will be pushed down into the interior of the earth and reabsorbed into the mantle. Plates can also be compressed to push up mountains when they collide or move sideways along what are known as transform faults. the other 2 faults are known as divergent faults which is when 2 paltes slowly move away from each other and converegent faults which is when 2 plates push against each other.\n\nThe plates are the Earth's crust that float on the molten rock in the center of the Earth. Most of the inside of the Earth is so hot that the rock just simply melts away. The molten rock, which is also known as magma, bubbles up very slowly in great currents under the surface of the Earth. The crust that floats on the magma moves with it. The Plates are just pieces of the crust. Just like a giant jigsaw puzzle. The part that makes it hard to understand is that it all moves extremely slowly. Just a few cm a year, roughly at the same rate a your finger nails are growing. \n\nHope this has helped you out a bit
216118
The Richter Scale was introduced in 1935. The scale is named for American Physicist Charles F. Richter of the California Institute of Technology, who evolved it from the patterns he discovered by studying more than two hundred earthquakes per year.\n\nThe scale provides more objective and quantitative basis for measuring earthquakes than the other widely used standard - The Mercalli Scale which is a 12 point scale. The Richter starts at one and has no upper limit with its graduation arranged in logarithmic increments. The one on the scale is log1 to the base ten i.e. 10, the two on the scale is log2 to the base ten i.e. 100. This means that each unit in scale is 10 times greater than the one each unit below. This is general for all consecutive full numbers on the scale.\n\nThe Mercalli Scale by contrast is more objective in assessing the effect of earthquakes. For example an earth quake registering five on the Mercalli Scale is defined as having the force to shake furniture and ring bells but cause little or no damage. But an earthquake registered 12 on the Mercalli Scale would have destroyed all man made objects.
1165888
All depends on the magnitude and the location of the earthquake along the fault.
336125
It is 1000 times stronger. The richter scale is an exponential scale. So from 1 to 2 is 10 times worse.
565481
Because the primary 'earthquake' is measurable by a physical realignment of two or more techtonic plates in a specific direction. 'aftershocks' are incremental settlements of these plates, and are not necessarily in he same direction.  Hope that helps!
55918
An earthquake is the shaking of the ground caused by an abrupt shift of rock along a fracture in the Earth, called a fault. Within seconds, an earthquake releases stress that has slowly accumulated within the rock, sometimes over hundreds of years. ... \nThe size of an earthquake is indicated by a number called its magnitude. Magnitude is calculated from a measurement of either the amplitude or the duration of specific types of recorded seismic waves. Magnitude is determined from measurements made from seismograms and not on reports of shaking or interpretations of building damage. ... The intensity of and earthquake is a measure of the amount of ground shaking at a particular site, and it is determined from reports of human reaction to shaking, damage done to structures, and other effects. ... \n\nEarth scientists believe that most earthquakes are caused by slow movements inside the Earth that push against the Earth's brittle, relatively thin outer layer, causing the rocks to break suddenly. This outer layer is fragmented into a number of pieces, called plates. Most earthquakes occur at the boundaries of these plates. In Washington State, the small Juan de Fuca plate off the coast of Washington, Oregon, and northern California is slowly moving eastward beneath a much larger plate that includes both the North American continent the land beneath part of the Atlantic Ocean. Plate motions in the Pacific Northwest result in shallow earthquakes widely distributed over Washington and deep earthquakes in the western parts of Washington and Oregon. The movement of the Juan de Fuca plate beneath the North America plate is in many respects similar to the movements of plates in South America, Mexico, Japan, and Alaska, where the world's largest earthquakes occur. ...
890603
a difference in 0.1 on the richter scale will mean 100% increase in amplitude of shaking and about 3.1 times the energy.
403621
In a nutshell, their is no way to predict earthquakes because there are little to no warnings signs. For example in California, This is a transform fault where two plates are sliding past each other... Eventually the stress builds up so much that it moves a lot at one time.. This is what causes Earth Quakes there, and when they happen they are devastating... We just cant tell when the stress is so much that an earthquake is going to happen.. It is not possible and probably will never be.