Difference between the Mercali scale and the Richter scale

There are many differences between the Richter scale and the modified mercali scale. The main differerence between them is the Richter scale measures magnitude of an earthquake and the mercali scale measures intensity.

During an earth the Richter scale measures how powerful the earthquake is. It measures the energy released during an earthquake. Charles Richter invented it in 1935. The mercali scale measures the intensity of an earthquake. That means it measures how much damage is caused during and after an earthquake to a city. Guiseppe Mercali invented it in 1902. One difference between the two scales is how big each scale is. The Richter scale has ten levels of measuring the energy released from an earthquake, and the mercali scale has twelve levels of measurement that describes the intensity of an earthquake. That’s a main difference between the two scales.

Another main difference between the two scales is the way they measure energy or intensity. The Richter scale is used during an earthquake. Richter scales are used with seismograms to calculate the energy levels of and earthquake. A mercali scale is calculated by a person to decide how much damage was put upon a civilization. The higher the intensity of an earthquake the more damaged a city is. The higher the reading on a Richter the more powerful an earthquake will be.

Another difference between the two scales is the way they calculate energy or intensity. On a Richter scale each level is one hundred times more powful than the last level. So a level two earthquake is one hundred times more powerful than a level one. The intensity of and earthquake is calculated by the damage on a surface to a city. There might be mudslides or fires so the intensity would be at high levels. That’s the difference between the two scales.

Those are some differences between the Richter scale and the modified Mercali scale. They are both very useful to scientists to understand how powerful earthquakes can be. And hopefully scientists will one day be able to predict earthquakes for the safety of people.