The Highest Point on the Planet (It's Not Mount Everest)

We all know that Mount Everest, at 29,035 feet above sea level, is the highest spot on our planet. Sir Edmound Hillary taught us that, right? Well, yes… that is unless we think about the word "highest" in a different way.

Think instead of that point on the planet closest to the moon and the stars, in other words to "out there."

According to Issac Newton, the centrifugal force of the Earth's spin will result in a slight flattening at the poles and bulging at the equator, which would make the planet slightly oblate. Mathematicians call this an "oblate spheroid," which means that anyone on the equator is already standing "higher," or closer to outer space, than people who aren't on the bulge.

The winner of the hightest point of Earth is Mount Chimborazo in Ecuador. Mount Chimborazo, in the Andes, is a 20,000-plus-foot peak sitting on top of a bulge on the Earth. Mount Everest is a 29,000-plus-foot peak sitting lower down on that same bulge. Because Chimborazo is a bump on a bigger part of the bulge, it is 1.5 miles higher than Everest!

Link

The Andes Vanishing Glaciers

Comments

[EvilCosmicMonkeyfrom Knoxville]

It seems like a great place to build Arthur Clarke's Space elevator. Get some monofilament.

[bitirim]

thank you

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[claudio]

Aside from the usual 'sohbet siteleri' (it is becoming annoying in that strange turkish language ...why to make advertisment to us poor people that do not speak a single turkish word ????)...the UK 'SIR' may be right in a certain sense.

For us poor guys that when we go to LND we see Kilograms and Meters and Liters and Kilometers around.....it is really difficult to convert feets to meters and to foollow the thoughts of the 'sir'.

Can you imagine to express the distance to the moon in feet (or inches ??)?????

They invented these unit of measures and must be proud of them.

However aside from metrics units (NOW aboundantly used in all UK universities..) ...and downtown in LND , He may be correct from a certain viewpoint and I have to say that the notation is quite smart.

I agree dear mr SIR Hillary..Yes the earth is everything but NOT spherical therefore , as well known , at equator the diametre is higher than the diametre connecting the North and South poles...yes agreed due to the earth rotation.

Hence he must be correct even though I have to use a calculator to understand the difference in metres between the height of the two mountains.....IF referred to a perfectly spherical earth.

Regards to the so called 'earth Geoid' (i.e. the earth geoid is the true counterpart of the earth spheroid)...and to that smart notation offerd to us by Mr Hillary.

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[Lilly Hunter]

Please use metric measurements in your science articles.

[tebe soos]

Since your data relies on "forces" such as "centriFUGAL" force, i highly doubt the reliability of this evidence, however, that is not to say that this isn't true, just that you probably need some more research before declaring such facts.

[Ethan Holshouser]

Hey tebe, guess what? From our (non-inertial) frame of reference, there is in fact a centriFUGAL force due to the rotation of the earth.

Claudio: Divide by three. It's not that hard. 3.28 if you want to be more exact.

[robb]

sounds like a perfect place to built elevator to outer space.

[a]

this article barely made sense.

[Terry]

Wow, you make so much nonsense you should run for office! Seldom have I ever heard so many facts packed together in such a manner as to make a height advantage of 9000 feet become a disadvantage of approximately 7500 feet! I am in awe.

[Reason]

http://epod.typepad.com/blog/2009/02/mt-chimborazo.html

Now stop making retarded comments, idiots above.

[8th grade science]

Great, only there is no such thing as the "centrifugal" force. The so called "force" you speak of is the result of Inertia. Objects in motion tend to stay in motion in a straight line unless acted upon by an outside force. Everything on earth therefore would tend to float out into space in a straight line from earth, except there is gravity, air friction and so on to keep you firmly planted.

[Paul]

actually... if there is a bulge at the equator due to the spinning of the planet, then due to the diffuse nature of gasses, the atmosphere would expand further at the equator, causing the trip from the surface of the planet to outer space longer due to the longer distance to travel through the extended atmosphere at the equator...