What is the point on earth located farthest from the Earth's center?
by 
wickedwillie
ANSWERS: 3
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Hmmm...Is this a test, or have you not tried searching google? Since you ask, you must be aware that the straightforward answer, Everest, is not correct. Searching any search engine for "mountain farthest from the earth's center" will return dozens of hits stating that due to the bulge of the earth at the equator, an equatorial mountain is farther from the center than one at higher latitudes. Since Ecuador's Chimborazo (20.7K feet)is only a degree or so off the equator, it claims the title as point farthest from the earth's center. According to the USGS (quoted at http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2001/BeataUnke.shtml ) even the beaches of Ecuador are higher than the top of Everest. That seems at odds with other other information on the same page which indicates that the bulge in the earth accounts for only about 2800 m - enough to bump Quito over the top of Everest, but not Guayaquil As an aside, my freshman geology textbook said that the earth is not spherical, but geoid shaped. I dutifully turned to the glossary, where I learned that "geoid" means "shaped like the earth."
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Huh! Up to now, I have been telling everyone it's Kilamanjaro. I never realized that even the SEA-LEVEL at the equator is further from the centre than the top of Everest. I am still suspicious; I'll research this, but you might be right. Next time I swim on a beach near the equator, I'll astonish my wet confreres with this piece of trivia. Actually, why don't you check out Kilamnajaro- without consulting a map, I think it's near the equator.... Quito beaches are already http://dejavu.aqk.ca anyhow!
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"The inactive stratovolcano Chimborazo (pronounced [tʃimboˈraso]) is Ecuador's highest summit. Its last eruption is thought to have occurred some time in the first millennium AD. Its summit is generally regarded as the spot on the surface farthest from the center of the Earth (since the Earth is not a perfect sphere), measuring 6,384.4 km (3,968 mi) from the Earth's core to the peak." "The summit of Mount Everest reaches a higher elevation above sea level, but the summit of Chimborazo is widely reported to be the farthest point from Earth's center, although Huascarán is a near-tie second. Chimborazo is one degree south of the equator and the earth's diameter at the equator is greater than at the latitude of Everest, nearly 28° north, with sea level also elevated. Despite being 2,581 m (8,568 ft) lower in elevation above sea level, it is 6,384.4 km (3,968 mi) from the Earth's center, 2.1 km farther than the summit of Everest." Source and further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimborazo_(volcano%29
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