The Richter scale is used to measure the magnitude of earthquakes. Developed in the 1930s by Charles F. Richter, it quantifies the energy released during seismic activity. The scale is logarithmic, meaning that each whole number increase on the scale represents a tenfold increase in measured amplitude and approximately 31.6 times more energy release. While the Richter scale was once the standard for measuring earthquakes, more modern scales like the Moment Magnitude Scale (Mw) are now commonly used due to their accuracy over a wider range of earthquake sizes. Nonetheless, the Richter scale remains widely recognized in popular culture.