Mount Everest

SAQ 5.4 A mountaineer climbs Mount Everest and wishes to make a strong cup of tea. He boils his kettle, but the final drink tastes lousy because the water boiled at too low a temperature, itself because the pressure at the top of the mountain is only 0.4 x pe. Again taking the enthalpy of boiling the water to be 50 IdmoE1 and the normal boiling temperature of water to be 373 K, calculate the temperature of the water as it boils at the top of the mountain. 

They are remarkable creatures. Some species of tardigrades can survive in extremely high or low pressures-as high as 6,000 times as great as our atmosphere, or as low as outer space. They can be found living on top of Mount Everest, at the bottom of the ocean, in the Arctic, at the equator, in hot springs, and probably on some moss or lichen in your own backyard. 

The great advantage of the technique is that the measurements do not affect normal daily activities in any way, so it can be used to measure energy expenditure in a number of different activities or conditions (e.g. by cyclists in the Tour de France race, climbers on Mount Everest, members of a trans-Antarctic expedition, women during pregnancy or lactation, obese animals including humans carrying out their normal daily activities) (Prentice 1988). 

It might be considered that running an ultramarathon (various distances from 50 to >100 miles), completing a 24-hour race, racing in the Tour de France or climbing Mount Everest are the ultimate in endurance activities. However, these activities may seem physically insignificant when compared with transantarctic expeditions, such as that carried out by R. Fiennes and M. Stroud in 1992-93. Not only was it a remarkable endurance feat but they carried out smdies on energy expenditure, body composition and nutrition. To illustrate this feat, we can do no better than quote from Mike Stroud s paper. 

Cenderelli DA, Wohl EE (2001) Peak discharge estimates of glacial-lake outburst floods and normal floods in the Mount Everest Region, Nepal. Geomorphology 40 57-90... 

At the top of Mount Everest, the air pressure is approximately 0.330 atmospheres, or one-third of the air pressure at sea level. A bcirometer placed at the peak would read how many millimeters of mercury ... 

If none of this work was wasted, we could use it to lift a 1000-lb rock up to the top of Mount Everest (which is about 26,000 ft high). But in the 1840s, Robert Mayer did not know the conversion factor of heat equivalent to work of 740 ft-lb per Btu. It had not been determined yet, because Dr. Mayer was the one who first discovered it. So Dr. Mayer had to use the following method. 

Kennedy, R.S. et al., Cognitive performance deficits occasioned by a simulated climb of Mount Everest Operation Everest II, Aviat. Space Environ. Med., 60, 99, 1989. 

It has been estimated that one chlorine atom has an atmospheric lifetime of one to two years and may destroy 100,000 ozone molecules, thus contributing to the mysterious ozone hole. The British Antarctic Survey discovered the lowest ozone concentration in Earth s atmosphere ever recorded, in October 1984 nearly 40 percent less than the historical average for Antarctica. Atmospheric currents concentrate CFCs over Antarctica, creating the ozone hole that in 1984 was larger than the United States and taller than Mount Everest. The loss of ozone as a protective layer permits the penetration of increased levels of ultraviolet light to Earth s surface. 

Would water boil at a cooler or a hotter temperature on Mount Everest compared with a location at sea level ... 

On Mount Everest the atmospheric pressure is extremely low, and so the water does not have to be very hot to have a vapor pressure that exceeds atmospheric pressure. Experienced hikers say that water boils at such low temperatures at high altitudes that it does not make for good soup or coffee. 

Using the Internet or another source, find the average atmospheric pressure at the top of Mount Everest. If it takes four minutes to boil a soft-boiled egg at sea level, how long would it take to boil an egg at the top of Mount Everest ... 

In 1953, while at the NRC lab, Lemieux conquered what some have called "the Mount Everest of organic chemistry." He became the first person to completely synthesize sucrose, or table sugar. Sucrose is a carbohydrate with the chemical formula C12H22O11. It is the main sugar in the sap of... 

Quartz clocks are accurate to about 0.0001 seconds per day. Such accuracy is more than adequate for everyday affairs. Suppose, however, the challenge is to measure the difference in clock rate between sea level and the top of Mount Everest The answer is that a clock on the top of Everest loses about 0.000030 second... 

In a manic episode the need for less sleep is almost always seen, so that the individual may rise hours earlier than normal yet stiU be full of enei. Indeed, the person may not sleep for days but feel no fatigue. Another common symptom is overly high self-confidence. The individual may attempt complex and difficult tasks for which he or she has no experience or knowledge, such as sailing around the world or climbing Mount Everest. The person may also have grandiose delusions (false beliefs that do not seem possible) about himself or herself. Rapid and loud speech that is difficult to interrupt is also a common symptom. Speech will often show a pressured quality as if the person is compelled to speak, so that an individual may talk a lot. 

The atmospheric pressure on top of Mount Everest is 58 kPa. What is this pressure in atmospheres ... 

The pressure atop the world s highest mountain, Mount Everest, is usually about 33.6 kPa. Convert the pressure to atmospheres. How does the pressure compare with the pressure at sea level ... 

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