San Francisco Earthquake
10/7/13
Quantitative Literacy Research Paper Topic with Sources
Richter scale and examples My topic for our research paper is going to be about the Richter scale; what it is and how it is used in the real world.
Sources:
Title: Richter scale. Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th Edition,
Database: Literary Reference Center
HTML Full Text
Richter scale
ListenSelect:
Richter scale (rĭk′tər), measure of the magnitude of seismic waves from an earthquake. Devised in 1935 by the American seismologist Charles F. Richter (1900–1985) and technically known as the local magnitude scale, it has been superseded by the moment magnitude scale, which was developed in the 1970s. The Richter scale is logarithmic; that is, the amplitude of the waves increases by powers of 10 in relation to the Richter magnitude numbers. The energy released in an earthquake can easily be approximated by an equation that includes this magnitude and the distance from the seismograph to the earthquake 's epicenter. Numbers for the Richter scale range from 0 to 9, though no real upper limit exists. An earthquake whose magnitude is greater than 4.5 on this scale can cause damage to buildings and other structures; severe earthquakes have magnitudes greater than 7. Like ripples formed when a pebble is dropped into water, earthquake waves travel outward in all directions, gradually losing energy, with the intensity of earth movement and ground damage generally decreasing at greater distances from the earthquake focus. In addition, the nature of the underlying rock or soil affects ground movements. In order to give a rating to the effects of an earthquake in a particular place, the modified Mercalli scale, based on a scale developed by the Italian seismologist Giuseppe Mercalli, is often used. It measures an earthquake 's intensity, the severity of an earthquake in terms of its effects on the inhabitants of an area, e.g., how much damage it causes to buildings.
Quantitative Literacy Research Paper Topic with Sources
Richter scale and examples My topic for our research paper is going to be about the Richter scale; what it is and how it is used in the real world.
Sources:
Title: Richter scale. Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th Edition,
Database: Literary Reference Center
HTML Full Text
Richter scale
ListenSelect:
Richter scale (rĭk′tər), measure of the magnitude of seismic waves from an earthquake. Devised in 1935 by the American seismologist Charles F. Richter (1900–1985) and technically known as the local magnitude scale, it has been superseded by the moment magnitude scale, which was developed in the 1970s. The Richter scale is logarithmic; that is, the amplitude of the waves increases by powers of 10 in relation to the Richter magnitude numbers. The energy released in an earthquake can easily be approximated by an equation that includes this magnitude and the distance from the seismograph to the earthquake 's epicenter. Numbers for the Richter scale range from 0 to 9, though no real upper limit exists. An earthquake whose magnitude is greater than 4.5 on this scale can cause damage to buildings and other structures; severe earthquakes have magnitudes greater than 7. Like ripples formed when a pebble is dropped into water, earthquake waves travel outward in all directions, gradually losing energy, with the intensity of earth movement and ground damage generally decreasing at greater distances from the earthquake focus. In addition, the nature of the underlying rock or soil affects ground movements. In order to give a rating to the effects of an earthquake in a particular place, the modified Mercalli scale, based on a scale developed by the Italian seismologist Giuseppe Mercalli, is often used. It measures an earthquake 's intensity, the severity of an earthquake in terms of its effects on the inhabitants of an area, e.g., how much damage it causes to buildings.
Links: further READING Predicting the Unpredictable: The tumultuous science of earthquake prediction by Susan Hough, Princeton University Press, 2009 Earthshaking Science: What we know (and don 't know) about earthquakes by Susan Hough, Princeton University Press, 2002 Introduction to Seismology by Peter Shearer, Cambridge University Press, 1999 Earthquakes 5th edition by Bruce Bolt, W. H. Freeman, 2003 Websites