Compared to the mountains on Mars, the highest mountain on Earth is just 'tep riu', why is that?

The highest mountain on Earth is Mount Everest, and the highest peak on Mars is Mount Olympus. However, when compared to the other mountains of Mars, the mountains on Earth are just a "small" type.

Mount Chomolungma or Everest, is the main peak of the Himalayas, located on the border between China and Nepal. Mount Everest is not only the highest peak in China, but also the highest peak in the world, with an altitude of 8848.86 meters. The entire Mount Everest is shaped like a giant and majestic pyramid with steep terrain, snow covered roads all year round.

With "Chomo" in Tibetan meaning goddess, "lungma" meaning mother. Mount Everest is not only the holy mountain in China, but also known as the holy mountain in the world.

Mount Everest is the highest mountain on Earth.

Mount Everest is the highest mountain on Earth above sea level, up to the present time at 8848.86 meters, it has decreased in height by 2.4 cm after the earthquake in Nepal on April 25, 2015 and has moved 3 cm to the southwest. The border between Nepal and China runs through Mount Everest.

On our planet there are more than 40 peaks above 7,000 meters above sea level, and Mount Everest is known as the highest peak of the highest peaks. There are also several other world-famous mountains that resemble Mount Everest, such as Lhotse, the fourth highest peak in the world, at 8,501 meters above sea level; Mount Makalu, the fifth highest peak in the world, at 8,470 meters above sea level; Cho Oyu is 8,153 meters above sea level; Further west is Shishapangma, the last of the 14 peaks above 8,000 meters, at 8,012 meters above sea level.

Therefore, the peaks around Mount Everest have always been considered the best place for people to challenge themselves with extreme climbing. Since Mount Everest is the highest peak, the air at the top is very thin, cold and the climate is extremely harsh, so it is also the highest place for people to challenge the climbing limit.

It wasn't until May 29, 1953, that people successfully climbed Everest for the first time, New Zealand athlete Edmund Hillary and Nepalese guide Tenzing Norgay. However, Mount Everest is still nothing when compared to the highest mountain on Mars.

Mount Olympus

Mount Olympus, is a shield volcano on Mars. A shield volcano is a large volcano with a wide upper surface and a gentle, shield-like slope. Volcanoes of this shape also exist in large numbers on Earth, for example the Big Island of Hawaii is a typical shield volcano with an area of ​​​​10,414 square kilometers, an altitude of about 4,000 meters.

Mount Olympus on Mars (left) and Mount Everest on Earth (right).

And now the largest shield volcano on Earth is considered "Puha Hulu", is a volcano hidden under the blue waters of the northwestern Hawaiian islands, 275 km long, 90 km wide, but only 52 meters tall.

However, Mount Olympus on Mars is much larger than the shield volcanoes on Earth. This mountain is located at 18.65 degrees north latitude and 226.2 degrees east longitude on Mars. It is about 600 km wide and covers an area of ​​about 300,000 square km. And the base altitude of Mars (Mars has no sea level, so the base altitude is calculated as the same as the altitude of Earth) to the summit is 21,171 meters, and the altitude from the base of the mountain to the top of the mountain reached 21.9 km, 27 km higher than the plain 1,000 km northwest of it.

The magnificence and splendor of Mount Olympus is still considered unique in the Solar System

If the geodetic reference system (datum) of Mars is equal to the sea level of our Earth, the height of Mount Olympus is almost 2.4 times higher than Earth's Everest! The crater of this shield volcano consists of 6 collapse craters, with a length and width of 80 x 60 km.

To this day, the magnificence and splendor of Mount Olympus is still considered unique in the Solar System, and no planet has ever been found with such a large mountain. Because of its enormous size, we won't be able to see its full image from the Martian surface.

The pressure on Mars is inherently very low, only about 0.75% of atmospheric pressure on Earth, and when it reaches Mount Olympus, the pressure there is only 8% of the Martian baseline; On Mount Everest, the barometric pressure is 33%. Therefore, it can be seen that the environment of Mount Olympus will be much worse and harsher than that of Mount Everest.

Why are the mountains on Mars taller and larger than the mountains on Earth?

To figure this out, we first need to learn a few basic facts about Earth and Mars:

The mass of the Earth is about 5,972 x 10^24kg, the radius is about 6,371km and the acceleration due to gravity on the Earth's surface is 9.82 m/s^2; Mars' mass is about 6,417 x 10^23kg, radius is about 3,390km, and the gravitational acceleration on the Martian surface is 3.73 m/s^2. From this we can see that the mass is Earth's gravity is 9.3 times the mass of Mars, and gravity is about 2.63 times that of Mars.

The main reason the mountains on Mars are taller than Earth is because of gravity.

That is to say, the mass of Mars is only 1/9.3 that of the Earth, and its gravity is only 38% of the Earth's.

Based on these data, we can deduce that the main reason why the mountains on Mars are higher than Earth's is because of gravity. During the study of all celestial bodies, it was found that the more massive the object, the closer it would be to the shape of a perfect sphere, and vice versa, thus the smaller the asteroids. the more strange the shape.

Earth's gravity is stronger than Mars' gravity, so mountains can hardly grow very high. Scientists think that with real Earth conditions the peaks can completely reach a height of more than 15,000 meters, but when they reach this height they will collapse due to the inability to withstand the pressure of gravity. . In addition, the Earth's atmosphere is thick, atmospheric flows have formed complex climates, wind, frost, rain and snow have attacked and weathered for hundreds of millions of years, which also causes for the mountains on Earth can't be as tall as Mars.

Research suggests that Mount Everest was formed by the collision and ejection of tectonic plates. It was over 10,000 meters high 13 million years ago, but it eventually collapsed because it could not withstand the effects of gravity, weather, and gradually became what it is today.