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RE: 🇹🇼 UPDATE: Experiencing a 6.1 Earthquake in Taiwan! 在台灣體驗到了6.1的大地震 (Chinese Translation inside) 🇹🇼

in #taiwan7 years ago

Other than I look at Earthquake everyday here are some other interesting facts about Earthquakes.

For instance, an earthquake of magnitude 6.0 releases approximately 30 times more energy than a 5.0 magnitude earthquake and a 7.0 magnitude earthquake releases 900 times (30 × 30) more energy than a 5.0 magnitude of earthquake. An 8.6 magnitude earthquake releases the same amount of energy as 10,000 atomic bombs like those used in World War II.

Here is the mind-blowing part of how much energy the very biggest earthquakes release.

Consider the Fukushima earthquake, which was reported to be a 9.1 quake. The effect of the quake was to move the entire island of Honshu (see the below graphic) by 2.4 meters east, and shifted the Earth on its axis between 10 and 25 cm.[1]

The amount of (surface) energy released by the quake was estimated 3.9x10^22 joules, and, if harnessed, would power the city of Los Angeles for a year. It was also equivalent to approximately 600 million times the power of the Hiroshima bomb, or 9,320 Gigatons.[2]

How much energy is that equivalent to in terms of the 50 megaton (as tested) Tsar Bomba?

It would take 186,400 Tsar Bombas to equal the amount of energy in the Fukushima earthquake.

600 million times the power of the Hiroshima bomb, this is truly humbling.

Beyond 9.5, while extremely strong earthquakes are theoretically possible, the energies involved rapidly make such earthquakes on Earth effectively impossible without an extremely destructive source of external energy. For example, the asteroid impact that created the Chicxulub crater and caused the mass extinction that may have killed the dinosaurs has been estimated as causing a magnitude 13 earthquake (see below), while a magnitude 15 earthquake could destroy the Earth completely.

https://www.quora.com/How-many-Tsar-bombs-would-it-take-to-equal-a-magnitude-9-earthquake

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I did learn a lot from this insights. I just wish no more (after Fukushima earthquake) or no country would be able to experience a more than 8.6 magnitude earthquake or else people from that place would perish.

Earthquake expert ❤️😝