Seismic magnitude scales and energy math
Earthquake magnitude scales like Richter and Moment Magnitude are logarithmic. A common misunderstanding is that a magnitude 7 earthquake is slightly stronger than a magnitude 6. Mathematically, each whole number increase on the magnitude scale corresponds to 10 times greater ground motion amplitude and approximately 31.6 times more energy release.
The energy calculation uses the standard seismic energy-magnitude equation: log10(E) = 4.8 + 1.5 * M. This exponential growth explains why high-magnitude earthquakes release catastrophic amounts of energy compared to moderate ones.