Why is Mount Everest the world's tallest peak?
Mount Everest
Why is Mount Everest the world's tallest peak?
Imagine you're trying to stack blocks to build the tallest tower in your backyard. You want to know which block is the highest to start building your tower.
Mount Everest is the highest block you can stack because it's the tallest mountain above sea level. The technical term for this measurement is "elevation from the geoid."
Example
If your backyard blocks are 1 meter tall, and Mount Everest is 8,848.86 meters tall, it's like stacking 8,848.86 blocks one on top of another.
Remember this
Mount Everest's elevation from the geoid is the key to its status as the highest point on Earth.
Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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