A 25-magnitude earthquake would release enough energy to destroy the sun, while a -15-magnitude quake is made whenever dust settles onto a table's surface.

Visualize the power and frequency of earthquakes across the moment magnitude scale, where a whole number increase corresponds to about 32 times more energy released.

Earthquakes of identical magnitudes are unlikely to cause equal damage because magnitude only measures energy released, and earthquake severity depends on environmental factors, such as local architecture and geological conditions.

Because the Richter scale was calibrated to crustal and mantle properties in Southern California, seismologists have instead used the moment magnitude scale to quantify earthquakes since the 1970s.

The frequency of earthquakes and the distribution of their magnitudes have not changed significantly over long-term records, but technological improvements have enabled scientists to detect more of them as they occur.

Reported earthquake magnitudes often change because initial values are based on limited information, whereas revised magnitudes account for factors such as fault size, rupture duration, and seismic wave behavior.

Although earthquakes cause about 80% of tsunamis, almost all earthquakes lack sufficient energy to cause the sudden shift in the ocean floor needed to substantially displace enormous volumes of water.

The largest earthquake in recorded history is a 9.5-magnitude event in 1960, which left 2 million Chileans unhoused.

What makes the Earth shake?

Micro-seismic activity has been produced from people cheering or dancing at sporting events, concerts, and other large gatherings, but scientists can easily distinguish these vibrations from natural earthquakes using seismometers.

The world's largest earthquake simulator is an 800-ton shake table facility in Miki, Japan, which was built to test the resilience of structures after the 1995 Kobe earthquake killed over 6,000 people.

Detonating the largest nuclear weapon ever tested in the Mariana Trench would create a pulsating energy bubble that would be largely unnoticed on the surface.

Every day, lightning releases several Hiroshima bombs' worth of energy into the atmosphere

Earthquakes are difficult to predict because they result from rocks suddenly sliding past one another or breaking, and this varies across rock types.

Tectonic earthquakes are caused by tectonic plates sliding past one another at fault zones, deforming rock through friction as energy builds like a stretched rubber band.

If the entire universe were replaced with antimatter, except for Earth, our planet would slowly be annihilated from the outside in as it moved through space.

Portugal's 1775 earthquake is considered Europe's first modern natural disaster.

Some earthquakes can produce smaller tremors called boomerang earthquakes, which travel in the opposite direction and ripple back to the original earthquake's source.

Explosive volcanic eruptions happen when magma pressure overcomes rock strength

Solid ground can behave like a liquid during earthquakes, causing objects to sink into or rise up from an otherwise rigid surface.

About 66 million years ago, an asteroid larger than Mount Everest struck Earth off the coast of the Yucatán Peninsula and wiped out at least 75% of all species, including nearly all dinosaurs.

Rather than predicting them in advance, earthquake early warning systems detect tremors moments after they begin and send notifications that reach users before the seismic activity does.

If, not when: An earthquake is destined to destroy the Pacific Northwest.

Rather than being triggered by a massive displacement of water from a geological event, meteotsunamis are caused by rapid changes in air pressure from fast-moving weather systems.

Earth is constantly bombarded by material from space

Why starquakes may explain various phenomena associated with neutron stars

Likened to a car backfiring or a faraway cannon fire, skyquakes have been reported worldwide in Earth's atmosphere without any obvious cause.

Research suggests a 95-kilometer-wide (59-mile-wide) asteroid impact could boil the Earth's oceans

How big is a supernova explosion?

Why Earth will be made uninhabitable by the sun far sooner than when the sun dies

View a map of the world's major earthquakes from 1956 to 2022, which can be used to identify tectonic plate boundaries.

Supervolcanoes can eject enough material to fill one-fourth of the Grand Canyon

If the Earth stopped spinning, about 85% of the world's population would experience supersonic winds.

Could the world's largest solar storm happen again?

Simulate the impact of an antimatter bomb, which releases energy from the annihilation of matter with antimatter, around the world.

How the Turkish earthquake created a 100-mile rupture

Some scientists hypothesize that stressed rocks can discharge built-up static electricity in the form of lightning—a phenomenon known as fracto-luminescence, or earthquake lights.

The tallest tsunami in recorded history was 524 meters (1,720 feet) high—taller than the Empire State Building—and occurred in Lituya Bay, Alaska, in 1958 after an earthquake dislodged a rockface into the water.

Geological tremors on the moon provide evidence that it is shrinking

Just as the moon deforms the Earth to create tides, Jupiter deforms its moon, Io, generating the thermal energy in Io's interior that powers the more than 400 volcanoes on its surface.

Why Turkey's earthquakes were so deadly

How powerful was the volcanic blast that destroyed parts of ancient Rome?

Enhanced geothermal power systems can trigger earthquakes by injecting fluid into rock, increasing subterranean pressure.

Thunderquakes—seismic waves created when lightning strikes the ground—have enabled scientists to image underground environments near Earth's surface by detecting vibrations along subterranean fiber-optic cables.

While both are nuclear weapons, atomic bombs release nuclear energy by splitting large atomic nuclei, whereas hydrogen bombs derive most of their energy from fusing heavy hydrogen isotopes.

Unlike hurricanes, tornadoes are not ranked based on measured wind speed

Because it loses more atmospheric gas to outer space than the cosmic dust it collects as it moves through space, the Earth loses about 50,000 metric tons of mass every year.

The composition of magma affects the explosivity of volcanic eruptions

Scientists quantify how far from the poles auroras will be visible using the G-scale

Replacing the sun with a black hole would quickly collapse life on Earth

The decibel scale measures sound intensity, with hearing damage occurring after prolonged exposure to sounds above 85 decibels—equivalent to a noisy lawnmower.