Magnitude scales are systems used to quantify the size or strength of various phenomena, such as earthquakes and stars. The most common scale for earthquakes is the Richter scale, which measures the energy released during an earthquake. Each whole number increase on the scale represents a tenfold increase in measured amplitude and roughly 31.6 times more energy release. Another well-known magnitude scale is the apparent magnitude scale for stars, which measures their brightness as seen from Earth. This scale is logarithmic, meaning that a difference of 5 magnitudes corresponds to a brightness factor of 100. Both scales help scientists communicate and compare the intensity of different events or objects.