I just had someone ask me to let them start getting the Ricter Scale on their credit reports. Um.... one of us is real confused here, folks, and this time I don't think it's me.
The Richter Scale isn't even used for earthquakes any more, except by the news media. Seismologists will talk in terms of Mw, Mb, Ms and ML (being "moment", "body-wave", "surface-wave" and "local" magnitudes respectively). Of those, Richter's original is closest to ML, and Mw is the best measure of the total energy released.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2003-05-23 03:25 am (UTC)[Warning! Pedantry alert!]
The Richter Scale isn't even used for earthquakes any more, except by the news media. Seismologists will talk in terms of Mw, Mb, Ms and ML (being "moment", "body-wave", "surface-wave" and "local" magnitudes respectively). Of those, Richter's original is closest to ML, and Mw is the best measure of the total energy released.