Mercury, its size, mass, gravity, density, axis and other characteristics
Mercury size
What size is Mercury? Mercury is the smallest planet in the solar system by surface area, volume and equatorial diameter. Surprisingly, it is also one of the densest. He obtained his title ‘smaller’ after Pluto out of gradged. That is why the oldest material refers to Mercury as the second smallest planet. The aforementioned are the three criteria that we will use to show the size of mercury in relation to the land.
Some scientists think that Mercury is actually reducing. The planet’s liquid nucleus occupies approximately 42% of the planet’s volume. The planet’s turn allows a small part of the nucleus to cool. It is believed that this cooling and shrink is evidenced by the fracture of the planet’s surface.
The surface of Mercury is full of craters, just like the moon, and the continuous presence of these craters indicates that the planet has not been geologically active for billions of years. That knowledge is based on a partial mapping of the planet (55%). It is unlikely to change even after the NASA Mapee Madeee spacecraft. Most likely, the planet has been bombarded strongly by asteroids and comets during the late intense bombardment about 3.800 million years. Some regions would have been filled with magma eruptions from inside the planet. These created soft plains similar to those found on the moon. As the planet cooled and contracted, cracks and ridges were formed. These functions can be seen in addition to other functions, which is a clear indication that they are more recent.
This Wac image showing an area never seen before the mercury surface was taken from an altitude of ~ 450 km (280 miles) above Mercury. Credit: NASA / Laboratory of Applied Physics of the Johns Hopkins University / Carnegie Institution of Washington
Mercury diameter (and radius)
Mercury diameter is 4.879.4 km.
Do you need any way to compare that with something more familiar? Mercury diameter is only 38% of the earth’s diameter. In other words, I could put almost 3 merure from side to side to coincide with the diameter of the earth.
In fact, there are two moons in the solar system that actually have a larger diameter than Mercury. The largest moon of the Solar System is Jupiter’s moon, Ganymede, with a diameter of 5.268 km and the second largest moon is the moon of Saturn, Titan, with a diameter of 5.152 km.
The Earth’s moon has only 3.474 km, so Mercury is not much bigger.
If you want to calculate the mercury radius, you must divide the diameter of mercury to half. While the diameter is 4.879.4 km, the mercury radius is only 2.439.7 km.
Mercury diameter in kilometers: 4.879.4 km
Mercury diameter in miles: 3.031.9 miles
Mercury radio in kilometers: 2.439.7 km
Mercury radio in miles: 1.516.0 miles
Mercury circumference
Mercury circumference is 15,329 km. In other words, if Mercury Ecuador were perfectly flat and could drive it in your car, your odomotor would add 15,329 km to the trip.
Most planets are flattened spheroids, so their equatorial circumference is greater than their pole to pole. The faster they revolve, the more the planet is flattened, so the distance from the center of the planet to its poles is shorter than the distance from the center to Ecuador. But Mercury turns so slowly that its circumference is the same regardless of where it is measured.
You can calculate the mercury circumference yourself, using classical mathematical formulas to obtain the circle circumference.
Circumference = 2 x pi x radius
We know that the mercury radius is 2.439.7 km. So, if you put these numbers at: 2 x 3.1415926 x 2439.7, you get 15,329 km.
Mercury circumference in kilometers: 15,329 km
Mercury circumference in miles: 9,525 miles
Mercury volume
Mercury volume is 6.083 x 10 10 km 3. It seems to be a huge number at first sight, but Mercury is the smallest planet in the solar system by volume (from Pluto degradation). It is even smaller than some of the moons of our solar system. Mercury volume is only 5.4% of the earth and the sun has 240.5 million times the volume of mercury.
More than 40% of the Mercury volume is occupied by its nucleus, 42% to be exact. The nucleus has about 3.600 km in diameter. That makes Mercury the second denser planet among the eight. The nucleus is molten and is mainly composed of iron. The molten nucleus can produce a magnetic field that helps divert the solar wind. The magnetic field and the light gravity of the planet allow you to maintain a dim atmosphere.
It is believed that Mercury was once a larger planet and;Therefore, it had a greater volume. There is a theory to explain its current size that many scientists accept on several levels. The theory explains the density of Mercury and the high percentage of nucleus material. The theory establishes that Mercury originally had a metal-silicate relationship similar to that of common meteorites, as is typical of rock matter in our solar system. At that time, it is believed that the planet had a mass of approximately 2.25 times its current mass, but, at the beginning of the history of the solar system, it was beaten by a planet that had approximately 1/6 of its mass and several hundredkilometers in diameter. The impact would have eliminated much of the original cortex and mantle, leaving the nucleus as a large percentage of the planet and also largely reducing the volume of the planet.
Mercury volume in cubic kilometers: 6.083 x 10 10 km 3
Mercury mass
Mercury’s mass is only 5.5% of the earth;The real value is 3.30 x 10 23 kg. Since Mercury is the smallest planet in the solar system, this relatively small mass would be expected. On the other hand, Mercury is the second most dense planet in our solar system (after Earth). Given its size, density comes largely from its nucleus, estimated in almost half of the planet volume.
The planet’s mass is made up of 70% metallic materials and 30% silicates. There are several theories to explain why the planet is so dense and the abundance of metallic material. The most widespread theory argues that the high percentage of cores is the result of an impact. In this theory, the planet was originally. At the beginning of the history of our solar system, Mercury was beaten by a planet -size impactor that had approximately 1/6 of its hypothetical mass and hundreds of kilometers in diameter. An impact of that magnitude would strip much of the bark and mantle, leaving a large nucleus. Scientists believe that a similar incident created our moon. An additional theory says that the planet formed before the energy of the sun stabilized. The planet would also have had much more mass in this theory, but the temperatures created by the protosun would have been as high as 10,000 k and the majority of the surface rock could have vaporized. Roca vapor could have been dragged by the solar wind.
Mercury mass in kg: 0.3302 x 10 24 kg
Mercury mass in pounds: 7.2796639 x 10 23 pounds
Mercury mass in tons: 3.30200 x 10 20 tons
Mercury mass in tons: 3.63983195 x 10 20
Messenger artistic concept in orbit around Mercury. Courtesy of NASA
Messenger artistic concept in orbit around Mercury. Courtesy of NASA
Service in Mercury
Mercury gravity is 38% of gravity here on Earth. A man who weighs 980 Newtons on Earth (around 220 pounds), would only weigh around 372 Newtons (83.6 pounds) when landing on the surface of the planet. Mercury is just a little larger than our moon, so it is expected that its severity is similar to that of the moon to 16% of the earth. The big difference is the greatest density of Mercury: it is the second densest planet in the Solar System. In fact, if Mercury was the same size as the Earth, it would be even denser as our own planet.
It is important to clarify the difference between mass and weight. The mass measures the amount of things that contains something. So, if you have 100 kg of mass on the earth, you will have the same amount in Mars or intergalactic space. The weight, however, is the force of gravity that you feel. While the bathroom scales measure pounds or kilograms, they should actually measure Newton, which is a weight measure.
Take your current weight in pounds or kilograms and then multiply it by 0.38 with a calculator. For example, if it weighs 150 pounds, 57 pounds will weigh in Mercury. If it weighs 68 kilograms on the bathroom, its weight in mercury would be 25.8 kg.
You can also invest this number to find out how much stronger it would be. For example, how high it could jump or how much weight could lift. The current world jump record is 2.43 meters. Divide 2,43 by 0.38 and will obtain the world height jump record if done in Mercury. In this case, it would be 6.4 meters.
To escape the seriousness of Mercury, I would need to travel 4.3 kilometers per second, or about 15,480 kilometers per hour. Compare this with the Earth, where the escape speed of our planet is 11.2 kilometers per second. If you compare the relationship between our two planets, you get 38%.
Superficial mercury severity: 3.7 m / s 2
Mercury exhaust speed: 4.3 kilometers / second
Mercury density
Mercury density is the second highest in the solar system. Earth is the only densest planet. Is 5,427 g / cm 3 compared to that of Earth 5,515 g / cm 3. If gravitational compression was eliminated from the equation, Mercury would be denser. The high density of the planet is attributed to its large percentage of core. The nucleus constitutes 42% of Mercury’s total volume.
Mercury is a land planet like Earth, one of the only four of our solar system. Mercury is approximately 70% metallic material and 30% silicates. Add mercury density and scientists can infer details of their internal structure. While the high density of the earth is mainly due to gravitational compression in the nucleus, Mercury is much smaller and is not so internally compressed. These facts have allowed NASA scientists and others to conjecture that their nucleus must be large and contain overwhelming iron amounts. Planetary geologists estimate that the molten nucleus of the planet represents approximately 42% of its volume. On Earth that percentage is 17.
Mercury interior
That leaves a mantle of silicate that has only 500 to 700 km thick. Mariner 10 data led scientists to believe that the bark is even thinner, with just 100 to 300 km. This surrounds a nucleus that has a higher iron content than any other solar system planet. So what caused this disproportionate amount of core material? The majority of scientists accept the theory that Mercury had a metal-sailicate relationship similar to that of Common Condrita meteorites several billions of years ago. They also believe he had a mass of approximately 2.25 times his current;However, Mercury could have been impacted by a 1/6 planet of that mass and hundreds of kilometers in diameter. The impact would have eliminated much of the original cortex and mantle, leaving the nucleus as a significant percentage of the planet.
While scientists have some data on mercury density, there is even more to discover. Mariner 10 sent a lot of information, but could only study about 44% of the planet’s surface. The Messenger mission is filling some of the blank spaces while reading this article and the Bepicolumbo mission will go further in the extension of our knowledge of the planet. Soon, there will be more than theories to explain the high density of the planet.
Mercury density in grams per cubic centimeter: 5,427 g / cm 3
Mercury axis
Like all the planets of the Solar System, the Mercury Axis is inclined outward of the ecliptic plane. In this case, Mercury’s axial inclination is 2.11 degrees.
What exactly is the axial inclination of a planet? First imagine that the sun is a ball in the middle of a flat disc, such as a disc or a CD. The planets orbit around the sun inside this album (more or less). That album is known as the ecliptic plane. Each planet also turns on its axis while orbits around the sun. If the planet turned perfectly and down, so that a line that crosses the north and south poles of the planet was perfectly parallel to the poles of the sun, the planet would have an axial inclination of 0 degrees. Of course, none of the planets is so.
So, if you draw a line between the north and south poles of Mercury and compare it with an imaginary line if Mercury did not have any axial inclination, that angle would measure 2.11 degrees. You will surprise you to know that this mercury inclination is actually the smallest of all the planets of the Solar System. For example, the inclination of the Earth is 23.4 degrees. And Uranus is actually completely turned on its axis and turns with an axial inclination of 97.8 degrees.
Here on Earth, the axial inclination of our planet causes the stations. When it is summer in the northern hemisphere, the north pole of the earth is inclined towards the sun. And then, in the winter, the northern pole moves away. We receive more sunlight in the summer, so it is hotter and less in winter.
Mercury barely experiences any station. This is because it almost does not have axial inclination. Of course, it doesn’t have a lot of atmosphere to contain the heat of the sun. The side that looks to the sun is heated to 700 degrees Kelvin, and the side that looks outward falls to less than 100 Kelvin.
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