Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by janrinok on Friday August 14 2015, @06:15PM   Printer-friendly
from the shake,-rattle-and-roll dept.

THIS WEEKEND, A 3.3-magnitude earthquake rattled San Francisco ever so slightly. The small quake, like so many before it, passed, and San Franciscans went back to conveniently ignoring their seismic reality. Magnitude 3.3 earthquakes are clearly no big deal, and the city survived a 6.9-magnitude earthquake in 1989 mostly fine—how how much bigger will the Big One, at 8.0, be than 1989?

Ten times! As smarty-pants among you who understand logarithms may be thinking. But...that's wrong. On the current logarithmic earthquake scale, a whole number increase, like from 7.0 to 8.0, actually means a 32-fold increase in earthquake energy. Even if you can mentally do that math—and feel smug doing it—the logarithmic scale for earthquakes is terrible for intuitively communicating risk. "It's arbitrary," says Lucy Jones, a seismologist with the US Geological Survey. "I've never particularly liked it."

[Suggested New Earthquake Scale]: Seismological Review Letters

Maybe SN could suggest a better way to measure earthquakes ...


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 2) by captain normal on Saturday August 15 2015, @04:29AM

    by captain normal (2205) on Saturday August 15 2015, @04:29AM (#223139)

    Good point...here in the US most beer and ale is sold in 12 ounce bottles or cans. So asking for a six pack of .354882 liter beer does seem a bit awkward.

    --
    When life isn't going right, go left.
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 2) by Popeidol on Sunday August 16 2015, @11:18AM

    by Popeidol (35) on Sunday August 16 2015, @11:18AM (#223504) Journal

    Do you currently ask for a six pack of 12 ounce bottles, or just a six pack? I don't think I've ever specified volume except in edge cases (like trying to buy a bunch of sapporo 650ml cans)

    Usually you don't have to ask anything. You grab the beer, take it to the front of the store, and pay. As long as you know what you want there's no problem.