Complex sentence: As measured with a seismometer, an earthquake that registers 5.0 on the Richter scale has a shaking amplitude 10 times greater than an earthquake that registered 4.0 at the same distance, and thus corresponds to a release of energy 31.6 times that released by the lesser earthquake.
Split into simpler sentences: As measured with a seismometer, an earthquake that registers 5.0 on the Richter scale has a shaking amplitude 10 times greater than an earthquake that registered 4.0 at the same distance. As energy release is generally proportional to the shaking amplitude raised to the 3/2 power, an increase of 1 magnitude corresponds to a release of energy 31.6 times that released by the lesser earthquake.