Speaking of Earthquakes, buh-bye Richter

[SzczerbiakManiac]

I learned this morning that the Richter Scale (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richter_scale) is no longer used by seismologists. The media mis-uses it all the time, but it fell out of scientific use years ago. It's been replaced by the Moment Magnitude Scale (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moment_magnitude_scale).

Also of interest (to me, at least), the Richter Scale was specifically designed to measure quakes in California. However, as other sites around the world started to measure quake activity, they discovered it didn't always work well. Thus the MMS was developed and eventually universally adopted.

[RStar]

From The Richter Scale: (Unlike the Richter scale, however, the moment magnitude scale is built on more sound seismological ground)

.....Unlike the Richter scale, however, the moment magnitude scale is built on more sound seismological ground....No pun intended....
:D