Weatherlawyer wrote in
oups.com:

I found this table revealing if specious:

Richter TNT for Seismic Example
Magnitude Energy Yield (approximate)

-1.5 6 ounces Breaking a rock on a lab table
1.0 30 pounds Large Blast at a Construction Site
1.5 320 pounds
2.0 1 ton Large Quarry or Mine Blast
2.5 4.6 tons
3.0 29 tons
3.5 73 tons
4.0 1,000 tons Small Nuclear Weapon
4.5 5,100 tons Average Tornado (total energy)
5.0 32,000 tons
5.5 80,000 tons Little Skull Mtn., NV Quake, 1992
6.0 1 million tons Double Spring Flat, NV Quake, 1994
6.5 5 million tons Northridge, CA Quake, 1994
7.0 32 million tons Hyogo-Ken Nanbu, Japan Quake, 1995;
Largest Thermonuclear Weapon
7.5 160 million tons Landers, CA Quake, 1992
8.0 1 billion tons San Francisco, CA Quake, 1906
8.5 5 billion tons Anchorage, AK Quake, 1964
9.0 32 billion tons Chilean Quake, 1960
10.0 1 trillion tons (San-Andreas type fault circling Earth)
12.0 160 trillion tons (Fault Earth in half through center,
OR Earth's daily receipt of solar
energy)

http://www.seismo.unr.edu/ftp/pub/lo...magnitude.html

With all due respect to those who compiled it, it is hard to see how
the accuracy can be maintained so evenly. But then it is probably
similar to my efforts, no more than a rule of thumb.

Nope. Not a rule of thumb. It's all in the formula just above
that chart...

logE(s) = 11.8 + 1.5M

where E(s) is energy in ergs
M is magnitude

Ergs is a unit of energy which can be converted into other
forms of energy, for example joules or megatons TNT.

Simple math(s). Well, the logarithm might be secondary school.

I've done the math several times before. I'd be glad to walk
you through it if you'd like.

For example, my calculations regarding the Sumatra quake can
be found at,

http://groups.google.com/group/sci.g...ead/thread/860
09267aa53cee9/66d35a57217238e7?lnk=st&q=&rnum=1#66d35a57217238e7

or if that's too long...

http://tinyurl.com/yr674d

Brian
--
http://www.skywise711.com - Lasers, Seismology, Astronomy, Skepticism
Seismic FAQ: http://www.skywise711.com/SeismicFAQ/SeismicFAQ.html
Quake "predictions": http://www.skywise711.com/quakes/EQDB/index.html
Sed quis custodiet ipsos Custodes?