400
How is the moment magnitude scale different from the Richter scale in terms of how scientists measure the size of earthquakes?
Moment magnitude scale is more accurate than the richter scale because it tells how much energy was released during an earthquake. In the Moment Magnitude Scale, scientist measure the surface area of the fault and how much the fault moves to determine how much energy was released, compared to the Richter scale where scientists look at seismographs and see how big the wavy lines get.