Question

How much stronger is an earthquake that is magnitude 5 compared to an earthquake that is magnitude 2?

A
10 times

B
100 times

C
1,000 times

D
10,000 times

Answer 1

D 1 00000 bigger than earthquake magnitude

Answer 2

In order to measure earthquake intensity, we refer Richter scale. The scale has a standardisation of base 10 logarithmic scale.

It means, if Place A has an earthquake magnitude 3 and Place B has the same to be 4, then the intensity of Place A is $10^{4-3} = 10$ times stronger than that of Place B.

Therefore, an earthquake that is magnitude 5 is $10^{5-2} = 10³ = 1000$ times stronger than that of magnitude 2.

i.e. option C is the correct answer.