Final answer:
The Richter scale is used to measure the magnitude of an earthquake's largest jolt of energy, representing the energy released through a logarithmic scale.
Step-by-step explanation:
The scale that measures the magnitude of an earthquake's largest jolt of energy is the Richter scale. The numbers on this scale are examples of logarithmic data related to both the amplitude of the earthquake waves and the energy they carry. The scale is logarithmic because each whole number increase on the Richter scale represents a tenfold increase in measured amplitude and roughly 31.6 times more energy release. For instance, an earthquake rated at magnitude 6.1 releases significantly more energy than one rated at 5.1.