Question

suppose earthquake a has a magnitude of 6.7 measured on the richter scale, and earthquak b has a magnitude of 8.7. how many times greater is the intensity of earthquake b? round your answer to the nearest tenth.

Answer 1

The intensity of earthquake b is approximately 251.2 times greater than the intensity of earthquake a.

Step-by-step explanation:

The intensity of an earthquake is proportional to the earthquake's magnitude on the Richter scale. The relationship between the intensity and the magnitude is logarithmic. To determine how many times greater the intensity of earthquake b is compared to earthquake a, we can use the formula:

Intensity b = Intensity a x 10^(Magnitude b - Magnitude a)

Given that earthquake a has a magnitude of 6.7 and earthquake b has a magnitude of 8.7, the formula becomes:

Intensity b = Intensity a x 10^(8.7 - 6.7)

Since we are only interested in the ratio of the intensities, we can simplify the formula to:

Intensity b / Intensity a = 10^(8.7 - 6.7)

Using a calculator, we can calculate that 10^(8.7 - 6.7) is approximately 251.2. Therefore, the intensity of earthquake b is approximately 251.2 times greater than the intensity of earthquake a.