Chronology Current Month Current Thread Current Date
[Year List] [Month List (current year)] [Date Index] [Thread Index] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Prev] [Date Next]

Re: Wave Intensity vs Energy



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......

I don't think so. I think it has more likely to do with the propagation
geometry assumed - two dimensional or three dimensional. I note that
31 = 10^(3/2). I've not given further thought to the matter, however.

Leigh