Mountains

Based on the strength of Earth's gravity and the density and strength of rock, in principle you could make a single conical mountain that stretched between New York and Chicago and soared over 45 kilometers. That's twice the size of Olympus Mons and definitely Dwarf's Everest. However, there are a couple reasons why we can't actually have that humongous of a mountain here on Earth. For one, Earth's crust is made up of continental plates that essentially float in the semi-solid rock of the mantle below. If you add more weight above the surface, they sink lower into the Earth's hot interior, and when they sink far enough, they soften and basically melt. For our conical mountain, that gives a new height limit of just 15 kilometers. As well, the powerful collision of two tectonic plates, which creates mountains in the first place, also fractures and cracks the rock, weakening its structure and exposing it to erosion. Over millions of years, freeze-thaw cycles pry at these cracks, while winds claw at the slopes and streams and glaciers carve deep valleys in the mountainside, all weakening the mountain's support. This can end badly. For example, 3,764 meter tall Aoraki Mount Cook in New Zealand had its top fall off one night in 1991, trimming it down to a 3,754 meter mountain. Given all the factors that conspire to limit the height of mountains, for example, sinking into the Earth's mantle, fractures, and erosion, I wouldn't bet on our tallest mountains getting much taller than they already are.