EARTHQUAKES An earthquake rated at 3.5 on the Richter scale is felt by many people, and an earthquake rated at 4.5 may cause local damage. The Richter scale magnitude reading m is given by m = log10 x, where x represents the amplitude of the seismic wave causing ground motion. How many times greater is the amplitude of an earthquake that measures 4.5 on the Richter scale than one that measures 3.5?

A) 100 times

B) 4.5 times

C) 10 times

D) 7 times

Earthquake refers to the violent shaking of the Earth crust in response to its extremely dynamic interior. Sometimes the rocks are loaded or stressed beyond its elastic limit, following which it rebounds thus emitting a wave(seismic), which is received by us as seismic waves.

The energy released during an earthquake is measured in Richter scales (named after Charles Richter). While 1 is the lower limit, there is no such upper limit. However, earthquakes above 7 are considered fragile for human existence. It is a logarithmic scale meaning successive numbers of the scale by a factor of 10.

Thus, an earthquake measuring 4.5 would be around 10 times more powerful than an earthquake measuring 3.5 following logarithmic scale.