Richter Scale Calculator
Compare two magnitudes: how many times more shaking, and how many times more energy. The two answers are very different, and the page shows why.
Example — Magnitude 7 vs magnitude 5100× the shaking, about 1,000× the energy
How we got it — the example, step by step
- The scale is logarithmic. One whole step up multiplies the measured shaking amplitude by 10: 10^(7 − 5) = 100.
- Energy grows faster: each step multiplies energy by about 31.6 (10^1.5). So 10^(1.5 × 2) = 1,000.
Check it backwards
One step = ×10 shaking and ×31.6 energy; two steps must be ×100 and ×1,000 — and 31.6² ≈ 1,000. The two rules agree with each other.
Questions people also ask
Is it still called the Richter scale?
News reports say 'Richter', but seismologists have used moment magnitude (Mw) since the 1970s — it behaves better for very large quakes. The ×10 / ×31.6-per-step rules on this page are the properties of the magnitude scale itself, whichever modern variant produced the number.