How Do You Actually Measure The Height Of A Mountain?

At 8,849 meters ( 29,032 feet),Mount Everestis the tall mountain in the existence – but how did we figure that out ? In fact , how do we know how high any mountain is ? They certainly do n’t make measuring tape that long ( plus someone would have to be at the top to read it ) , so how do people really go about measuring the height of a mass ?

You know when you sat in that maths lesson and imagine “ pffft , I ’ll never utilize trig in tangible life story ” ? Well , you ’d better dust off your protractor because the most traditional way of valuate a mountain ’s height most definitely does necessitate some trig attainment .

It ’s a method acting calledtriangulation , which requires knowing the length between two spot on the background , and the angle between both of those points and the heyday of the mountain .

The height of flock , however , is measured from ocean layer – which , theoretically , should be the sameacross the major planet – so project it out also ask the person doing the measure to roll in the hay the aggrandisement above ocean level of the point they ’re measuring from , as well as take into write up the curve of the Earth .

When it come to measuring the angles , things need to be a niggling more accurate than bear up a plastic protractor ; that ’s where atheodolitecomes in , a telescope - looking type of optical preciseness official document that can measure both horizontal and vertical angles .

With two angle and the length of one side of the “ triangle ” , you’re able to then bung all those numbers into a few trigonometric recipe ( the sin formula and Heron ’s convention can aid ) and shazam , you ’ve get the height of the sight .

However , this historically used method is n’t necessarily the most exact . When British army police officer Sir Andrew Scott Waugh and his squad were measuring Mount Everest as part of the Great Trigonometric Survey , for lesson , Earth ’s air interfere .

luminosity can flex in the atmosphere , known as atmospheric refraction , due to changes in the density of the air . This can become more marked over longer distances , and because it then makes objects come out magniloquent or short than they genuinely are , measure made can stop up being inaccurate .

now , it can be simpler and far more precise to value a mountain ’s ALT by seduce use of GPS . That ’s a serious thing when it comes to Mount Everest , because its height can in reality convert – not because ofchanges in evaluate methods , but because geologic events likeearthquakes .