Question

The Northridge, California, earthquake of 1994 had a magnitude of 6.8 on the Richter scale. A year later, a 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck Kobe, Japan. How many times more intense was the Kobe earthquake than the Northridge earthquake? (Round your answer to one decimal place.)

Answer 1

Answer:

The Kobe earthquake is 1.1 times more intense than the Northridge earthquake.

Explanation:

In order to answer the question, you have to calculate the rate of the two earthquakes, that way you will obtain how many times more intense was the Kobe earthquake compared to the Northridge earthquake.

The rate is obtained dividing the magnitude of the Kobe earthquake by the magnitude of the Northridge earthquake:

$Rate=\frac{7.2}{6.8}=\frac{18}{17}=1.05$

Rounding to one decimal place:

Rate=1.1

Let K and N represent the intensity of the Kobe and Northridge earthquakes, respectively. Therefore the rate can be written as:

$\frac{K}{N}=1.1\\ K=1.1N$

The Kobe earthquake is 1.1 times more intense than the Northridge earthquake.