High Landforms: Mountains and Hills

The Earth's surface isn't flat like a pancake; it has many different shapes called landforms. A mountain is the tallest landform of all! It is a giant piece of land that rises very high above everything around it. Most mountains have steep sides and a pointed top called a peak. Because they are so high up, the air at the top is often very cold, which is why you might see white snow on the peaks even in the summer! Scientists usually say a landform must be at least $1,000$ feet tall to be called a mountain.

You might see smaller bumps in the land called hills. While both mountains and hills rise above the ground, they are very different. A hill is much shorter and usually has a rounded top, like a gentle wave. A mountain is like a skyscraper, while a hill is like a small house. If you were hiking, you could walk up a hill easily, but a mountain would require a lot of climbing! Think of it this way: if the height is $H$, a mountain's $H$ is much larger than a hill's $H$.

Mountains rarely stand all by themselves. Most of the time, they appear in a long line or a big group. This group of mountains is called a mountain range. Imagine a row of giants holding hands across the land—that is what a range looks like! On a map, a mountain range looks like a bumpy line of triangles. One of the most famous ranges in the United States is the Rocky Mountains, which stretches for thousands of miles!