How is magnitude using the Richter scale?

The Richter magnitude scale (ML) scale, assigns a single number to quantify the amount of seismic energy released by an earthquake. It is a logarithmic scale based upon the horizontal amplitude of the largest displacement from zero on a seismometer. Each whole unit (i.e., 1.0) corresponds to an approximate energy increase of 32 time (e.g., a 6.0 M earthquake has 32 time the energy release of a 5.0 M).