Earthquakes and Logarithms

One thinks of an earthquake as a sudden motion or trembling in the earth caused by an abrupt release of accumulated energy. During an earthquake, the ground may vibrate up and down or the land may undulate like the ocean in a storm. Such activities, if severe, will wreck buildings; buckle railroad tracks, break waters and gas mains; and collapse dams and bridges; the end result often being the loss of lives and billions of dollars of damage. Since earthquakes can be weak and cause little or no damage or can be very severe, people are very concerned about the size of an earthquake. One method of comparing the size of earthquakes is the Richter Scale.

The purpose of this Pull-Out Section is to show how mathematics is used in the Richter Scale and how mathematics played an important role in its development.