What is Mercury the planet for kids?

Mercury is the smallest planet in our solar system. It’s just a little bigger than Earth’s moon. It is the closest planet to the sun, but it’s actually not the hottest. Venus is hotter.

What would happen if we lived on Mercury?

Because of its proximity to the Sun, Mercury receives the most intense solar radiation of all the planets. This means that, even with protection from the temperature, exposure to daylight on Mercury would be lethal, so human settlers would have to stay out of the Sun permanently.

How is Mercury made for kids?

It is made out of oxygen, sodium, hydrogen, helium, and potassium. Since its surface is similar to our Moon, it indicates that the small planet hasn’t been geologically active for many years. The planet is primarily made out of rocks. Though it is very hot on Mercury, frozen water exists on its surface.

What’s special about Mercury?

The closer a planet is to the Sun, the faster it travels. Since Mercury is the fastest planet and has the shortest distance to travel around the Sun, it has the shortest year of all the planets in our solar system – 88 days.

How long would a human survive on Mercury?

But Mercury does rotate, just incredibly slow. At its current rotational velocity, it takes about 176 Earth days to experience one Mercurian day-night cycle. But you wouldn’t make it to the next day because you would die in about two minutes due to freezing or burning up.

Can we live on Mercury yes or no?

Tough Place for Life It is unlikely that life as we know it could survive on Mercury due to solar radiation, and extreme temperatures.

What is a fun fact of Mercury?

Mercury is the smallest planet in the solar system. The diminutive planet is about 3,030 miles (4,876 kilometers) in diameter, making it about the size of the continental United States and only slightly bigger than Earth’s moon. It’s smaller than both Saturn’s moon Titan and Jupiter’s moon Ganymede.