Question

An earthquake with a rating of 6 is considered a major earthquake that can cause damage over a large area.

What is the value of x when the Richter scale rating is 6? Round your answer to the nearest hundredth.

Answer 1

Explanation:

The Richter scale is used to measure the magnitude of an earthquake. It is defined by the formula:

M = log10(I/I0)

where M is the magnitude, I is the intensity of the seismic waves at a given distance from the epicenter (measured in units of microbars), and I0 is a reference intensity.

For a major earthquake with a rating of 6 on the Richter scale, we have:

M = 6

Using the formula, we can solve for I/I0:

6 = log10(I/I0)

Taking 10 to the power of both sides gives us:

10^6 = I/I0

Simplifying the right side gives us:

I = I0 x 10^6

This means that the intensity of the seismic waves during a major earthquake with a rating of 6 is 1 million times greater than the reference intensity.

However, this equation does not give us a value of x. Therefore, we cannot answer the question as it is stated.