Extremes of the Earth.

Our planet Earth, is full of many interesting extremes. Here are some of the important ones:

Highest Mountain: Everyone knows Mt. Everest is the highest mountain in the world. It is 8,848 meters high. Mt. Everest was first climbed successfully in 1953 by Sir Edmond Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay. It is located in Nepal, and is a part of the Himalayas Mountain range.

Tallest Mountain : Though Mt. Everest is the highest mountain in the world, it is not the tallest one. Mauna Kea at 10,000 meters stand much taller than it, and is the tallest mountain in the world. However, most of this great mountain is immersed in the ocean, and only 4205 mts, is visible over the surface of the ocean in Hawaii.

Largest Mountain Range: Mid Atlantic Ridge runs deep in the Atlantic oceans, and covers almost the whole length of Earth. Though it is mostly under water, at 50,000 kms , it is much longer than Andes, Himalayas and Rockies all combined.

Longest mountain range on land: Andes in South America is the longest mountain range on Earth. It is 7000 kms long.

Deepest point in Earth: The Deepest point in Earth is called Challenger Deep, in Mariana Trench. It is 10,924 meters deep, which is much deeper than Mt. Everest.

Lowest Land area: The lowest land area is in Dead Sea, Jordan. It is 422 meters below the sea level. Dead sea boasts of very high salinity, 8 times that of the ocean. Animals can’t live in such salty water, thus its’ name.

Highest Waterfall: is the Angel Falls in Venezuela. It stands 3230 feet tall.

Tallest Volcano: Mauna Loa in Hawaii is the tallest volcano in the world. It stands 13,681 ft. tall.

Coldest Place: Antarctica at nights is the coldest place in the world. Temperatures here have been recorded as low as -129°f at Vostok station.

Hottest Place: El Azizia in Libya is the hottest place in the world. The highest recorded temperature being 136°F.

Driest Place: Atacama desert is a plateau on the Andes mountain range. Some places here have not seen rain for 400 years!

Longest River: River Nile flowing through Africa is the longest river, at 4100 miles.

Greatest River: Amazon river is the greatest and most amazing river in the world. It carries the most amount of water in the world- a whopping 20% of all freshwater in the world. Amazon also supports a vast rainforest all around it, that are also called The Lungs of the World, for generating a huge percentage of the world’s oxygen.

Highest Tides: Bay of Fundy is famous for the highest tides, sometimes as tall as a 3 storey building.

Biggest Ocean: The Pacific ocean is the largest Ocean- its’ area is even bigger than all of Earth’s land mass combined.

Largest Continent: Asia.

Smallest Continent: Australia.

Largest Country: Russia

Smallest Country: Vatican city , an enclave country in the city of Rome, is the smallest country in the world.

Largest Lake: Caspian Sea.

Deepest Lake: Lake Baikal in Russia is the deepest lake at 1637 meters deep, and carries more freshwater than any other lake in the world.