Re: Wave Intensity vs Energy

[James McLean <mclean@GENESEO.EDU>]

Leigh Palmer wrote:
> ....
> In many waves (light, sound) energy intensity is proportional to the
> square of the wave amplitude. This is true of earthquakes as well.

"Bernard G. Cleyet & Nancy Ann Seese" wrote:
> "Because of the logarithmic basis of the scale, each whole number increase in
> magnitude represents a tenfold increase in measured amplitude; as an estimate of
> energy, each whole number step in the magnitude scale corresponds to the release
> of about 31 times more energy than the amount associated with the preceding
> whole number value. "

Hmm, I guess E propto A^2 applies for linear (in the sense of Hook's
law) media.  Now does that mean that earthquakes are sub-linear or
super-linear......
--
Dr. James McLean                     phone: (716) 245-5897
Dept. of Physics and Astronomy       FAX:   (716) 245-5288
SUNY Geneseo                         email: mclean@geneseo.edu
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