This Sumatran quake is being touted as a 9.0 on the Richter scale. How much stronger than this (in percentage terms) were the 9.2 Alaskan quake or the 9.5 Chilean quake.
My math skills aren’t up to figuring this out.
The Richter scale is logarithmic; each number is 10^x the previous one.
0.1 difference - 10^0.1 = 1.25x
0.3 diff- 10^0.3 = 2x (actually 1.995)
0.5 diff - 10 ^0.5 = 3.16x
1.0 diff = 10^1 = 10x
Remember that this is simply the difference in measured amplitude of the seismic waves, and can vary from measuring poing to measuring point. Actual energy released goes up even quicker, though I don’t remember what that factor is. Maybe a real geologist will be along with the number.
The Richter scale is logarithmic, therefore each unit increase means an increase of 10 times the amplitude. A 9.0 earthquake is 10 times more powerful than an 8.0.
Amplitude increases by a factor of 10 for each point on the scale. Energy release increases by a factor of about 31.
Let me rephrase that for clarity… A 9.0 earthquake has generated 10 times the seismic amplitude as that from an 8.0 event. As jk1245 mentions the energy released is something different entirely, as this site and equation details. It would appear that the energy release difference between units is more on the order of approximately 32 times.
"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)"
That sounds awesome!!!
:eek: 
How many licks would that take?
I dunno, let’s ask Mr. Galactus.
I get the caramel center. I called it.