Richter scale

This term refers to a specific scientific instrument of measurement. In technical discourse, it is often distinguished from the Moment Magnitude Scale, which is more accurate for larger earthquakes, though the term is still widely used in general media and casual conversation to describe seismic intensity.

As a proper noun phrase derived from the name of Charles Richter, it is consistently capitalized. It functions as a singular entity in most contexts, referring to the system of measurement rather than individual instances of the scale.