Which is the hottest planet of the solar system?
- A.Mercury
- B.Venus
- C.Mars
- D.Jupiter
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is B, Venus. Venus is wrapped in a very thick atmosphere of carbon dioxide, which lets sunlight in but does not let the heat escape. This runaway greenhouse effect keeps its surface hotter than that of any other planet, even at night and even on the side turned away from the Sun.
Option A, Mercury, is nearer the Sun and is therefore the usual wrong choice, but it has almost no atmosphere to hold heat, so its nights are bitterly cold. Option C, Mars, is farther away, has a thin atmosphere and is a cold desert planet. Option D, Jupiter, is a gas giant far beyond the asteroid belt and is colder still at its cloud tops. Remember Venus for three records at once: hottest planet, brightest planet in our sky, and the twin of the Earth in size.
Read the full article: Solar System and the Earth: Planets, Moon and Motions
Practice Questions
View allApproximately how long does sunlight take to reach the Earth?
- A.8 minutes 20 seconds
- B.1.3 seconds
- C.4.2 years
- D.24 hours
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The Sun is about 149.6 million kilometres from the Earth, a distance called one astronomical unit, and light travels about three lakh kilometres in a second.
Read the full explanation →Which is the largest planet of the solar system?
- A.Saturn
- B.Neptune
- C.Jupiter
- D.Uranus
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Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest of all by both diameter and mass; it is a gas giant of hydrogen and helium.
Read the full explanation →Apart from Uranus, which planet rotates on its axis from east to west, that is in a direction opposite to most planets?
- A.Mercury
- B.Venus
- C.Mars
- D.Saturn
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Almost every planet, the Earth included, rotates from west to east, which is why the Sun appears to rise in the east.
Read the full explanation →The occurrence of seasons on the Earth is caused mainly by which of the following?
- A.The changing distance between the Earth and the Sun
- B.The rotation of the Earth on its axis
- C.The tilt of the Earth's axis along with its revolution around the Sun
- D.The gravitational pull of the Moon
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The axis of the Earth is tilted about 23.5 degrees from the vertical and keeps pointing in the same direction throughout the year.
Read the full explanation →Which planet has the lowest density, so low that it would float if placed in a large enough body of water?
- A.Jupiter
- B.Saturn
- C.Neptune
- D.Mercury
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Saturn is a huge ball of hydrogen and helium spread over an enormous volume, and its average density is less than that of water.
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