How high does the Richter scale go?
by 
Breanne Green
ANSWERS: 5
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Theoretically, there is no limit. An earthquake whose scale level is one whole number higher than the last is 10 times stronger, so a Magnitude 9 Earthquake is 10,000 times as strong as a Magnitude 5 Earthquake. Who knows (other than God) how destructive a Magnitude 10, 11, or 12 Earthquake would be, since no such earthquake has ever been documented in recorded history.
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Theoretically the Richter scale has no upper limit, but the yield point of the Earth's rocks imposes an effective limit between 9.0 and 9.5.
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The Richter scale bases it ratings on the maximum amplitude of the seismic waves. Above about a magnitude 8, the amplitude of the waves stops increasing. What changes is the duration of the quake. Because of this, the Richter scale saturates in this range and doesn't really distinguish between earthquakes above 8. So, while earthquakes can and do warrant higher ratings, the Richter rating tops out in the 8.x range. Because of this, seismologist are moving to the Moment Magnitude scale. This scale uses both field observations and long period seismic waves to rate the quakes. It has been calibrated so that at the lower magnitudes, the numbers correspond to those of the Richter scale. However, the Moment Magnitude scale doesn't saturate at the upper magnitudes. So, there is theoretically no upper limit to it. Of course, there is still the practical limit to the amount of energy that the rocks can store and therefore an upper limit to the potential size of an earthquake. However, I don't know what that upper limit is.
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TOO DANG HIGH. Can we stop at 2 please. I just went through a 5.2 and freaked out!!!!
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0 to 9 i think highet 9.5
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