Consider the following statements: 1. The Richter scale is a logarithmic scale and so an increase of 1 magnitude unit represents a factor of 10 times in amplitude. 2. Each integer reading of the Richter scale has an energy 100 times that of the previous integer reading. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

1. Statement 1 is correct. The Richter scale measures the magnitude of earthquakes based on the amplitude of seismic waves recorded by seismographs. It is a logarithmic scale (base 10) specifically for wave amplitude. An increase of 1 magnitude unit represents a factor of 10 times increase in the measured amplitude. 2. Statement 2 is incorrect. While magnitude increases logarithmically, the energy released by an earthquake increases much more steeply. Each integer reading increase on the Richter scale corresponds to approximately 31.6 (often rounded to 32) times more energy released, not 100 times. 3. Therefore, only statement 1 is correct.