The Richter scale is a numerical scale used to measure the magnitude of earthquakes. Developed in 1935 by Charles F. Richter, this scale quantifies the amount of energy released during an earthquake, providing a measure that ranges logarithmically. Each whole number increase on the Richter scale corresponds to a tenfold increase in amplitude of the seismic waves and approximately 31.6 times more energy release. While the Richter scale has largely been replaced by the moment magnitude scale (Mw) for larger quakes, it is still widely recognized for its simplicity and historical significance in earthquake measurement.