Definition of Richter Scale

On our planet, movements are manifested from within, the known seismic movements or earthquakes. Its effects can be almost imperceptible and, at its most extreme level, somewhat devastating. To measure these variations there is a system, the Scale Richter, who rates seismic intensity at an intensity of 1 to 10 points.

Those earthquakes that are valued between 1 and 5 are of little impact in infrastructures and from a magnitude of 5 its effects are evident (in number of victims and destructive capacity).

Identifying a catastrophe

From a grade 8 on the Richter Scale, devastation becomes a real catastrophe. In this sense, those constructions that have not been built with anti-seismic systems have many possibilities of being destroyed (as a curiosity it should be mentioned that Chile and Japan are the two countries with a higher risk earthquakes and with more anti-seismic measures)

The Richter seismological scale makes it possible to evaluate a earthquake and calculate its consequences. In each country there is usually a system of

record to measure the movements of the Earth. This system of measurement calculate the Energy released through the amplitude that is recorded in the seismograph.

Measuring earthquakes

Already in ancient times there were systems to record the impact of the movements of the Earth. However, they were not understood as a natural phenomenon but it was considered that the different divinities caused these tremors as a punishment for humans. Is assessment it began to change with the Greeks in the IV century BC. C, who understood that earthquakes must have some natural mechanism. In the eighteenth century, the existence of tectonic faults was already known and movements in these structures were considered to be the cause of earthquakes.

In the 20th century, the geological mechanisms that generate tremors were already understood. However, there was no system to measure them. It was not until the investigations of Charles F Richter in the 1930s that an objective scale was proposed, which was based on logarithmic calculations.

The Richter scale as a complement to the "Magnitude of the Moment" measurement

At present, Richter's theoretical contributions are outdated and only his scale of measurement remains to give a gradual score to earthquakes. From a strictly scientific point of view, a different seismological scale is used, known as the Magnitude of the Moment.

Finally, it must be remembered that the Richter Scale had another competing measurement system, the Mercalli Scale, which was based on 12 levels and the degree of perception from each of them.

Themes on the Richter Scale