It all started off when Ben and Eli shared their news about climbing Mt Ruapehu. At the end of their news someone in the class asked "How high is Mt Ruapehu?"
We did some research as the boys didn't know. We used Google, classroom maps and the class atlas to try and find the best answer. Mr Lietze challenged us with the following scripture:
2 Corthians 13:1 "The facts of every case must be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses."
This means we always need to have two or more witnesses so we know which answer is correct.
So we found out that Mount Ruapehu is 2,797m high and the three sources of information that proved this were:
- The Reed Map
- The Readers Digest Map
- The Whitcoulls Atlas
Now we became interested in other mountains and tried to find out how high Mt Everest was. However we have three witnesses that say Mt Everest is 8,848m and three more witnesses that say Mt Everest is 8,850m. There is 2 metres difference here!
Why is this?
We would like your opinion on how high you think Mt Everest is and why it is recorded differently.
Pictures from:
http://www.rockomaha.com/kidzontherock.htm
http://www.skiexpress.com.au/newzealand/images/ScenicMtRuapehu_000.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Everest
3 comments:
I think this would have been an interesting investigation to do.
For Mt Everest I think that perhaps the 3 sites you have as witnesses rounded up the 8,848m to the nearest ten (which would make 8,850m).
But I also did a bit of research and found this from the Team Everest site: http://www.teameverest03.org/everest_info/index.html
(also on 2 other websites also!)
How tall is Mt. Everest?
The official altitude of the world's highest peak is 29,029 feet (8,848m). However, the National Geographic Society has determined the height to be 6 feet taller, 29,035 feet, but the Nepali government has not yet been made this new altitude official.
Shifting tectonic plates continue to push Everest upward, along with the whole Himalaya mountain range, at 1.6 to 3.9 inches (4 to 10 centimeters) per year.
I think these could be 2 ideas - I will ask my class and see what they think!
Miss Signal :)
I think there could be a difference because the snow would pile up on the top of the mountain and make it higher!!!
Or the if it is measured as height above sea level the tide cold be in and make the mountain less high above sea level.
Or the person with the measurer could have done it wrong or written it down wrong.
Or a bit could have fallen off the the taller of the two measurements and the second one is the measurement taken after the bit fell off.
Or they could have measured ot fro the top of the flagpole that Sir Edmund Hillary put there in 1953.
Allanah K
ICT Facilitator
Discover IT Tasman
Hi, Alana. Hi, Katherine. Thank you for posting comments on my blog. For Katherine I hope you had a fun time in Italy, Paris and London. 2 years ago I went to Paris and its freezing.
Alana do you want to put the angel on your blog ? I can tell you the website.
One more time thank you. I really had a great time in Europe and Bangkok.
I am interested to measure the height of Gunung Salak. Gunung Salak is a mountain near our school.
Please reply
Post a Comment