Question

Approximately how much shaking does a magnitude 7 earthquake produce compared to a magnitude 5 earthquake?

Answer 1

A magnitude 7.0 releases about 32 × 32 = 1024 times as much energy as a magnitude 5.0 earthquake.

The size of an earthquake increases by a factor of 10 as magnitude increases by one whole number. A magnitude 6.0 earthquake, then, is 10 times larger than a 5.0; a magnitude 7.0 is 100 times larger, and a magnitude 8.0 is 1,000 times larger than a 5.0.