Wednesday 7 April 2010

Flattened and Bulged- April 7th 2010

Humans have known for many centuries now that the earth's shape is not quite spherical. Due mainly to centripetal acceleration, which causes the earth to flatten out near the poles and bulge near the equator, the Chimborazo in Ecuador is at the top of a list of places. If the earth were more like a sphere, another more well known place X would have been at the summit. What criterion is this list based on and what is X?

6 comments:

Nikhil said...

"The point on the surface of the earth which is farthest from the center of the earth." If earth were a perfect sphere Mt Everest would be at the top.

anuj said...

distance from moon. Mount Everest

AJ said...

Mount Everest, assuming the list is the farthest point from the center of the earth.

Sailesh Ganesh said...

The list is of points on the surface of the earth that are farthest from its center. X is Mount Everest.

Dev said...

X - Mt. Everest
Criterion: Longest line that can be drawn from the center of the Earth to its surface.

The Answer said...

The volcano, Mt. Chimborazo in Ecuador, is the point on the surface of the earth farthest from its center. Mt. Everest would have been that point if the earth were more spherical as it is the point on earth's surface highest above sea level.

Congratulations to Nikhil, AJ, Sailesh and especially Dev for his mathematically accurate answer :) Thanks Anuj for playing!