How are earthqaukes measured?

Answer 1

# Earthquake Measurement

Earthquake measurement is not a simple problem. It is hampered by many things. Few people are capable of observing carefully what is happening around them when they are experiencing an earthquake.

# Measuring an Earthquake

The first practical scale for measuring earthquakes was developed by geologist Charles Richter at the California Institute of Technology in the 1930s, and the scale that most scientists use today still bears his name.

# How do scientists measure earthquakes?

With a really big ruler? No, not quite. There are two ways in which scientists quantify the size of earthquakes: magnitude and intensity.

# Seismograph

In the history of the innovations surrounding earthquake study, we have to look at two things: the devices that recorded earthquake activity and the measurement systems written to help interpret that data. Remember that the Richter scale is not a physical device, but a mathematical formula.

# Measuring, Monitoring, and Predicting

Scientists have long been using seismometers to measure the shaking of earthquakes. At its most basic, a seismometer is simply a needle or a pen suspended in the air, which makes a mark on a moving roll of paper. When the needle shakes, the pen makes a squiggle on the paper; the larger the shaking, the larger the squiggle.