Problem: how people climb to the top of Mount Everest and live

Questions:
● What phases of matter are involved in this report
● Describe the energy, pressure, shape, volume of each state of matter.
● Describe changes that happen, using kinetic theory of matter.
● Describe a problem that can happen in the phase transition

How people climb to the top of Mount Everest and live

Problems of Matter Report
Tawan Wachirapaet, Science 8a

Thinking of climbing mountains, first qualifications you think of stamina, endurance and
strength. It is basically correct, but into when we go into details, it’s more than that where our
body is not the only factor. Being on top of Mount Everest would be like a really big achievement
of your life. What makes it big isn’t only that it is beautiful but also that it is challenging. Getting
to the highest point of the world is a pretty big deal and comes with risks and challenges to
defeat.

First of all, your body needs to be ready and prepared for a big change through all the
phases of matter; liquid, solid, gas. Starting from the lowest, you should get oversized shoes by
1-2 sizes so there is space for your toes to move freely and not get frozen in time. Professionals
recommend OneSport shoes, Italian-brand shoes for climbing. Followed by the shoes would be
crampons. Climbing on ice and snow requires the crampons to stick to the surface when it gets
steep. Ice is a solid which is a state of matter that has its own shape. Always pack spares with
you along the trip and carry one with you when you attempt for the summit. Use steel wires to
keep it together with the boots if they do get off. Choose your favorite brand but remember to
choose the right one for ice and snow.

For clothing around your body, you will need layers of clothing for climbing because the
temperature changes a lot and quickly when the clouds cover the sun. When the clouds cover
the sun, the heat that travels through the radiation stops and there is nothing warming our
molecules and the molecules around us. The temperature then changes due to the rise of air
and the decrease of pressure. 1-2 layers of lightweight Gore-Tex over fleece will work well. Use
a cap to avoid sun damage to your head. Wear waterproof gloves in the icefall and use mittens
that goes up to about half of your arm. Down suits are recommended but you should check if it
works with the oxygen mask covering your face. Bring a spare of down suit for cold nights and
also lightweight changes socks.

Mount Everest has a difficult whether to face. It has a wind speed over 100mph. The
range of temperature is about 10C to -25C. Blizzards and snowstorms happen quite often, too.
This is one of the reasons base camps are for. Climbers are suggested to stay at basecamps
until the weather is clear which could take up days of cold, strong wind and snow.

Use heat-exchanging, wired face mask to avoid Khumbu-cough from the start of your
trip. The cough you get when you spend a lot of time at high altitude and very low temperature.
If you don’t think it is necessary, get normal mask from cross-country skiing. The mask will be
connected to bottled oxygen which gives you oxygen when climbing higher. Oxygen is an
element that can be a solid, liquid or gas depending on its temperature and pressure and
around Mount Everest, it is a gas. Everest’s temperature is not low or high enough to change
the phase of matter. Gas is a phase of matter that does not have an exact shape or volume.
Gas particles have low and high kinetic energy proportional to the average temperature of gas.

Bottled oxygen could be expensive, heavy and more to some people. It could not help
much more than giving a gas that is similar to basecamp and when it runs out, the human body
will struggle to adapt to such a sudden lack of air to breathe. When you run out of oxygen, your
brain is damaged due to lack of oxygen inside it. This messes up your mind since oxygen is
what the brain needs in order to function properly. Brain cells are very sensitive to a lack of
oxygen. Some brain cells start dying less than 5 minutes after there is no more oxygen.

Higher up in the atmosphere, there is very less pressure. The molecules are all far apart
from each other. This means that there is less oxygen molecules than we usually breathe in.
Normally, at sea level there is enough pressure to tighten the molecules together. When the
oxygen in thinner in the air, it causes you to take more breaths up to the amount needed for
your body. More than you usually take when you’re at sea level. Climbing Mount Everest is a big
challenge.

295 people died from climbing mount Everest and 5294 successfully reached the top of
mount Everest out of a total 9159 people. Generally, 1.2% of climbers died from climbing mount
Everest and 57.80106998580631% went back succeeding. Climbing mount Everest is
becoming safer as time passes. Innovative inventions and gears allow humans to climb mount
Everest easier.

Bibliography
Wilkinson, F. (2019, March 15). Want to climb Mount Everest? Here's what you need to know. Retrieved
from
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/everest/reference/climbing-mount-everest/

(n.d.). Dangers of Climbing Mount Everest. Retrieved from

 https://www.topchinatravel.com/mount-everest/dangers-of-climbing-mount-everest.htm

Woodward, A. (2019, June 10). What it's really like to climb Everest, according to 10 people who've done
it. Retrieved from
​https://www.businessinsider.com/mount-everest-stories-from-climbers-2019-6

(n.d.). How dangerous is Mount Everest? Retrieved from

https://www.theweek.co.uk/93740/how-dangerous-is-mount-everest

wikiHow. (2019, May 20). How to Climb Mount Everest. Retrieved from
https://www.wikihow.com/Climb-Mount-Everest

(n.d.). Climbing gear. Retrieved from

https://www.mounteverest.net/expguide/gear.htm