How does Richter scale works?

Answer 1

The Richter scale (or local magnitude scale) indicate the energy released by a particular earthquake.

The numerical value is obtained from the logarithm of the maximum amplitude of seismic waves as recorded on a seismometer. This value is then scaled to account for the distance from the epicentre of the earthquake to the seismometer so as to allow the value to be correlated with the local magnitude readings from other seismometers in differing locations (as seismic waves lose their energy as they propagate through the earth so if this correction was not made, then different seismometer stations at different distances would give differing Richter magnitudes for the same earthquake).

It uses a logarithmic mathematical formula which is calibrated so that a ten fold increase in amplitude relates to a single whole number increase on the scale (e.g. an earthquake with a Richter magnitude of 5 has seismic waves with a maximum amplitude 10 times larger than those for a magnitude 4).

The equation for calculating the Richter magnitude (MR) is shown below:

MR = (Log10A) - (Log10A0)

Where

A = maximum zero to peak amplitude of seismic wave (mm) recorded.

A0 = Empirical function derived from the distance from seismometer station to earthquake epicentre

Log10A0 From 0 to 200 km distance:

Log10A0 = 0.15 - 1.6 log(distance in km)

Between 200 and 600 km distance by:

Log10A0 = 3.38 - 3.0 log(distance in km)

Answer 2

it works on the principle of gallileo pendulum theory. it moves according to the vibration of earth quake. the ink pen is suspended in bottom of pendulum bob.

so that it records the intensity of earth quake.

Answer 3

firstly take a piece of paper ,a thick wire,small marker.Then, fold the wire on one side

Answer 4

By measuring the vibrations from the earths crust and core, It sketches in the vibrations based of richter detecters around an area