Source: https://guthlabs.ai/docs/instruments/earthquake-magnitude-comparison-energy-ratio/

instrument / verified-clean

# Earthquake Magnitude Comparison (energy ratio)

The current ledger marks this instrument verified clean within the source-bound verification corpus.

Status: **VERIFIED_CLEAN**Lifecycle: **verified-clean**

## Inspectable records

[01**Overview**Purpose and lifecycle](<https://guthlabs.ai/docs/instruments/earthquake-magnitude-comparison-energy-ratio/>)[02**Mechanism**Method and assumptions](<https://guthlabs.ai/docs/instruments/earthquake-magnitude-comparison-energy-ratio/mechanism/>)[03**Implementation**Binding and validation](<https://guthlabs.ai/docs/instruments/earthquake-magnitude-comparison-energy-ratio/implementation/>)[04**Qualification**Evidence and errata](<https://guthlabs.ai/docs/instruments/earthquake-magnitude-comparison-energy-ratio/qualification/>)

## Ledger state

The current ledger marks this instrument verified clean within the source-bound verification corpus.

**Area**: Earth & Space (astronomy, orbital mechanics, meteorology, geology, geodesy, oceanography)

**Tranche**: tranche-5

**Evidence ID**: t5-049

**Ledger rows**: 1

No ledger note is attached.

## Review findings

The numerical formulas are correct under the stated assumptions, but the spec needs an explicit ΔM convention, magnitude-scale constraint, and scientifically accurate amplitude labeling before release.

### Formula and scope findings

- The formulas are standard only when both magnitudes use the same compatible magnitude scale and ΔM is explicitly defined as M1 − M2.

- The phrase "amplitude one quake releases" is scientifically incorrect: amplitude is a measured wave-motion quantity, not something released. Label the output as seismic-wave amplitude ratio.

- The input specification does not define which quake is the numerator/reference and therefore does not define the sign of ΔM or the direction of either ratio.

### Unit assumptions

- Magnitude values are dimensionless logarithmic quantities, not physical units.

- Both magnitudes are measured on the same magnitude scale or on scales for which these relations are valid; mixing Mw, ML, Ms, or other scales without conversion is not valid.

- Define ΔM = M1 − M2. The reported ratios are quake 1 divided by quake 2.

- Energy ratio 10^(1.5·ΔM) is an approximate empirical seismic-energy relation; it assumes comparable event definitions and does not provide absolute energy.

- Amplitude ratio 10^ΔM assumes comparable amplitude measurements and the same magnitude convention.

## Boundary hardening

**BREAK_CLAIMED** · SELF_FLAGGED

At magnitude difference ΔM = 1000, both mathematical ratios exceed JavaScript's finite numeric range and evaluate to Infinity in plain JavaScript arithmetic. The instrument should detect and flag this overflow.

## Errata and corrections

No applied erratum is attached to this unique-name record.

## Inspectable example

4 review vectors are recorded. One source-bound sample is shown below.

````
{
  "inputs": {
    "magnitude_1": 6,
    "magnitude_2": 5
  },
  "expected_outputs": {
    "energy_ratio": 31.6227766017,
    "amplitude_ratio": 10
  },
  "working": "ΔM = 6.0 − 5.0 = 1.0. Energy ratio = 10^(1.5 × 1.0) = 10^1.5 = 31.6227766017. Amplitude ratio = 10^1.0 = 10.0."
}
````

## Related workflows

No source-defined multi-instrument workflow membership is recorded.

## Sources and evidence

These pointers bind the page to evidence. They do not grant authority or collapse verification into deployment.

- `VERIFIED_LEDGER.json · VERIFIED_CLEAN`

- `evidence-tranche5/tranche5-results.json`

- `BOUNDARY_HAZARD_CATALOG.json`