I was writing something about Feminism but ditched it 1/3 through because it is a boring topic. HAHAHAHA! We don't need all these ideologies. Humans are looking for labels are the time. Let it be!!
Right, so. This geography lesson I'm about to share here, I learnt it off QI [Quite Interesting]. If you already know, good. But don't bother stating that because everybody will hate you for it [A lesson I got on Raya that I'm still trying to get rid off].
What is the HIGHEST point on Earth, the TALLEST mountain, and the FARTHEST point from Earth's core?
MT. EVEREST!
Consequently, RIGHT! WRONG! WRONG!
Mt.Everest IS the highest point on the surface of Earth but it is not the tallest of mountains and the furthest of peaks.
Situated on the border of Nepal and China, it stands at the height of 8,850 m OR 29,035 ft above the sea level. Stand on that peak and you'll be the new highest point.
The first recorded attempt to ascent was in 1922.
The first successful ascent was in 1953 by Edmund Hillary (explorer from New Zealand) and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay (Nepalese Indian Sherpa mountaineer from Darjeeling).
The Himalaya is indeed growing. Tectonic plate shifting is pushing it up 2 inches a year BUT due to global warming, Everest is losing it's ice caps and glaciers faster. So it's being declared as shrinking instead. [but it's still really tall]
Did you know that it costs around $40,000 to $70,000 to actually attempt reaching the summit? That includes the licensing of course. Scratch that off my list, it's full of garbage and dead bodies anyway.
A Nepali called Apa Sherpa and his "groupie" are campaigning to clean and preserve it. Good Luck! He also holds the world record for reaching the summit 21 times (1990-2011), sharing it with Phurba Tashi (1999-2013)
It was named after Colonel Sir George Everest by Andrew Waugh, the then Surveyor General of India. Everest was his predecessor and pronounced his name as "eever-ist" instead of the modern "ever-est". Now when did that change? By the way, before Everest, it was called "Peak XV" by the Great Trigonometric Survey, "Deodungha" in Darjeeling, and "Chomolungma" in Tibet.
Then what is the TALLEST mountain on Earth?!
MAUNA KEA!!
It's the highest point in Hawaii and only ascends to 4,205 m OR 13,796 ft above the sea level.
BUT from it's base, which lies underwater, the total height is a staggeringly 10,100 m tall.
The first recorded successful ascent was in 1823 by Joseph F. Goodrich, an American missionary, noting that he was not the first after finding unnatural rock arrangements there.
What's on top? A lot of snow and an observatory. It's one of the best spots to look into the sky since there aren't much clouds.
Unlike Everest though, it's a dormant volcano. So without going into any geological details, you can imagine that they are made from different materials.
The last time it erupted was around 4,600 years ago and it may still erupt. But the observatory!!
It's the largest and youngest island of the Hawaiian-Emperor seamount chain. You see, the islands of Hawaii are all formed from volcanic lava that are spewed from the same spot but because the Earth's crust never really sit still, once it moves the unstable mantle bursts onto a new location on Earth's surface, forming a chain pattern of the movement of Earth's crust. Thus, Hawaii.
Okay, so if Mt. Everest is the highest peak, shouldn't it also be the farthest point from the centre of the Earth?
NO, because Earth isn't a perfect sphere, it's an oblate spheroid. It's a bit squished in the middle circumference at the equator, known as the equatorial bulge. So because of this, Mt. Everest comes in as the 5th tallest mountain measured from Earth's core.
The 1st is MT. CHIMBORAZO in Ecuador.
It is located only 1 degree South of the equator line and part of the Andes mountain range. While Mt. Everest is 28 degrees North.
It's height is 6,267 m OR 20,561 ft above sea level.
Chimborazo is 6,384.4 km from the centre of the Earth while Mt. Everest is just short 2 km. But the thing is, Chimborazo isn't even the highest mountain of the Andes, it's Mt.Aconcagua [one of the 7 summits] located in Argentina which stands at 6,962 m OR 22,841 ft.
What's on top? Mostly glaciers. These glaciers are the main source of water for the locals. They also mine and sell the ice. But like every icey things on Earth, global warming just loves making them flow.
Chimborazo is also a volcano and has been discovered to have erupted 7 times over the course of 10,000 years. It's estimated to erupt every 1,000 years and since the last eruption was 1,400 years ago, it is being view as dangerous.
It WAS known to be the highest peak on Earth prior to the discovery of the Himalayas. People had already been climbing it since the 17th century.
So remember,
 |
EVEREST is the HIGHEST peak
MAUNA KEA is the TALLEST mountain
CHIMBORAZO is the FARTHEST from Earth's centre
Later days...
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