MERCURY & VENUS

Why does Mercury show a much wider range of temperatures than the Earth does? Mercury shows a wider range of temperatures because of how close it is to the sun and the fact it has no atmosphere Its more hot because of the distance The only reason it is colder is all the heat escapes due to the fact there is no atmosphere.

What does the surface of Mercury tell us about the history of the planet? The surface of Mercury consists of cratered terrain and smooth plains and many deep craters similar to those on the moon. This tells us that mercury has had a violent past and that it is somewhat similar to our moon and earth Another thing it tells us about its history is it will tell us what we can expect the planet to be made of?

Why is Mercury so dense? The scientists say that it is so dense because of when it was forming it was formed out of other materials that made it so dense

Why is the atmosphere of Venus so much hotter and thicker than that of the Earth? 2The reason it is thicker and hotter is the sulfuric acid clouds that surround the planet and the amount of CO2 and Nitrogen in the atmosphere

What does the surface of Venus tell us about the internal activity of Venus and of the Earth? A younger Venus is believed to have possessed Earth like oceans but these evaporated as the temperature rose. Venus's surface is a dusty dry deserts cape with many slab like rocks periodically refreshed by volcanoes. The internal activity of Venus could be similar because of the fact it has volcanoes that erupt and for that to happen you need a central area of convection currents and molten rock like earth

If Venus and the Earth began to evolve under similar conditions, what accounts for the large differences that exist today? The distance to the sun the temperature and the atmosphere

What have NASA and/or other agencies done to explore both Venus and Mercury? They have built mutiple space crafts to take pictures and use certain cameras to see what the planets are made of and if they have a atmosphere.