Earthquakes and seismic activity often happen with sudden movements underground with tectonic plates. Seismographs are used by scientists to measure the time, location and strength of an earthquake.

There are a number of ways to measure the magnitude of an earthquake. Most scales are based on the amplitude of seismic waves recorded on seismometers. These scales account for the distance between ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. The 4.8 magnitude earthquake that struck New Jersey on Friday generated shaking that could be felt from Washington, D.C., to north ...

THE destructive power of earthquakes is measured in different ways, but the one most people have heard of is the Richter scale. Here’s how the force is calculated – and what it means if you are caught ...

Often in these weekly Night Sky columns I refer to the magnitude of a star or planet. The concept of magnitude is relatively easy to grasp. Put simply, magnitude indicates an object’s degree of ...