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from | Encarta |  |
Earthquake Scales: Mercalli and Richter |
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| The Richter and Mercalli scales are used to rate and compare the intensity of earthquakes. Richter’s scale measures the energy of a quake at its centre, or focus, and the rating intensity increases exponentially from one number to the next. Mercalli’s scale is more subjective, because the apparent intensity of an earthquake depends on how far away from its centre the observer is standing. Running from I to XII, it describes and rates earthquakes more in terms of human reactions and observations than the mathematically based Richter scale. | ||||||
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| © Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved. | ||||||
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| Appears in these articles | ||||||
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| Richter Scale; Modified Mercalli Scale; Earthquake | ||||||
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