Question

An earthquake that is 6.3 on the Richter scale releases the energy equivalent to about 20,000 tons of TNT (slightly more than the atomic bomb that fell on Hiroshima, Japan). How many times more powerful would a 7.3 earthquake be?

Answer

Each whole number rise on the Richter Scale represents a tenfold increase in wave amplitude. The energy increase, however, is estimated by seismologists as approximately 31 times.