Trivia
HardThe Point On The Earth’s Surface Farthest From Its Center Is Located At?
Answer: Chimborazo, Ecuador
Most of the time we measure the height of mountain peaks from sea level. Sometimes we mix it up a little and measure their height from the continental shelf and every now and then you can even argue over which peak is the highest if you measure from the depths of the sea floor.
While measuring in the aforementioned fashions certainly will give you more than a few high peaks to admire, there’s one particular peak that often goes overlooked because it’s only the tallest in the world if you measure with a rather unconventional measuring stick: distance from the very center of the Earth.
Thanks to the phenomenon of equatorial bulge, wherein the equator of planets bulge slightly outward due to the centrifugal forces generated by the rotation of the planet, any mountains on or near the equator get a bit of a boost. Thanks to this boost the dormant stratovolcano Chimborazo, found in the portion of the Andes mountain range passing through central Ecuador, isn’t the highest peak when measured from sea level (at mere 20,564 feet), but when measured from the center of the Earth it has the highest elevation of any point on Earth’s surface.
What’s fascinating about the whole distance-from-the-center-of-the-Earth business is that because Chimborazo sits almost directly on the equator (it is only one degree off), the boost it receives from equatorial bulge is so significant that despite not even being the tallest peak in the Andes range it ends up being farther from the center of the planet than any other peak on Earth, including its much taller immediate neighbors.
Trivia
HardThe Crowdfunded Film That Reached Its Funding Goal The Fastest Was?
Trivia
HardWhich Planet Has Mysteriously Hexagonal and High-speed Storm?
Trivia
Easy“Silverbacks” Are Not A Distinct Species Of Gorilla, The Name Is A Designation Of?
Trivia
HardAlcohol Is Banned As A Performance Enhancing Drug In Which Of These Sports?
Trivia
HardThe Best Selling Debut Album In History Belongs To Which Of These Musical Acts?
Trivia
HardThe First CPU Widely Used In Hobbyist Computers Was The?
Trivia
EasyOne Of The Plot Lines Of Which Of These Animated Films Was Based On A Real Conspiracy?
Trivia
Very HardWho Invented The Light Bulb?
Trivia
HardMaps That Are Geometrically Distorted To Display Related Data Are Called?
Trivia
HardDuring World War II Urine Was Recycled To Extract?