Hacker News Reader

If you were speaking of a solar power installation you would say, for example, a 300 MW installation -- honoring Watt.

Why, then, a M8.2 earthquake? Why not a 8.2 R earthquake to honor Richter?

Because the magnitude is no longer defined using the original Richter scale. Earthquake magnitudes are now defined using a similar scale called the moment magnitude scale.

Also watts are an SI unit of power, whereas Richters are not a unit of earthquake. It's just the name for the scale itself.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seismic_magnitude_scales

Wow. I wonder if any local news station has ever said, "That earthquake with an epicenter in Whittier was a 4.5 on the moment magnitude scale."

Thank you.

Don't they usually say "It was a magnitude 4.5 quake?"

> Whittier

That's the town where everyone lives in the same building right?

No, you're thinking of the little town in Alaska. Whittier is a suburb of Los Angeles -- where Nixon was born, I believe.

Speaking of Watts, is there any way to translate the magnitude M for an earthquake into an equivalent MW of energy?

> Speaking of Watts, is there any way to translate the magnitude M for an earthquake into an equivalent MW of energy?

No, because while if other parameters are the same moment magnitude is logarithmic in energy, the other parameters differ between real earthquakes.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com