Fun facts about mercury 2023
We have eight planets behind us leaving us with only one more to explore join us as we make our final landing on the first planet in the orbital order as we explore 10 amazing facts about the sun's closest neighbor mercury number 10 the naming of mercury if you've been following our journey through the solar system you've likely picked up on a common trend when it comes to naming the planets most were derived from a Roman god mercury being among them observed long before the age of telescopes it's difficult to pinpoint who first saw this speeding planet with mentions of it going back as far as the late archaic period between 2000 and 1001 BCE.
During that time the Babylonians named the planet naboo due to Mercury's rapid orbit around the Sun ancient Greeks gave the planet two names Apollo when it was visible in the morning and Hermes at night but it was the Roman moniker for the messenger god mercury that wound up sticking number nine the tiniest of planets of the nine planets in the solar system it was bound that one of them would wind up being the smallest with a diameter of 3032 miles or 4870 nine kilometers the Swift planet is 38% the size of Earth and comes in at eighty-three thousand eight hundred fifty miles or 134 thousand nine hundred forty-three kilometers smaller than the solar system's largest planet Jupiter since mercury is so small and its mass is encased in such a tiny space the planet is 98% the density of Earth making it the second densest planet in the system.
Number eight Mercury's orbital pattern we briefly touched on Mercury's rapid orbit around the Sun but seeing how it's a rather standout trait it deserves more than just a passing glance spending just under 88 days on earth is the equivalent of one orbital period on Mercury and though it was originally believed that Mercury had a one-to-one ratio of rotations per orbit Einstein's general theory of relativity showed a different light mercury is now known to have a spin orbit resonance or direct correlation between orbital and rotate periods and experiences three rotations per two orbits around the Sun Mercury's orbit also bears an eccentricity of 0.2 0 6 making it the second most eccentric or most elliptical planet behind Pluto.
Number 7 your life on Mercury it's always fun to muse what your life would be like on another planet and even though we'll never get to know what life on Mercury would be like there are a few things we can figure out based on the orbital period and gravitational pull for instance if you were born in 1993 as of 2016 you would be quite the elder at just under 94 years old though you would have only lived 141 your Kurian days compared to the 23 earth years and 8000 257 earth days that's quite a difference if weight is your concern you may fall in love with Mercury's gravitational pull as a person weighing 200 pounds or 90 kilograms is going to enjoy seeing 75 pounds or thirty four kilograms pop up on the scale number six Mercury's crust mantle and core Mercury's most exterior layer is crust falling somewhere within a thickness of 60 to 185 miles or 100 to 300 kilometers making Earth's puny 20 to 30 mile or 30 to 50 kilometer crust seem flimsy beneath that though the mantle of mercury is considerably smaller than our home planet coming in at 372 miles or 600 kilometers thick compared to Earth's 1802 mile or 2900 kilometer thickness it's believed that the Swift planets mantle was once much thicker and a great portion of it was lost during the formation of the solar system.
Number 5 the surface of mercury besides the size there's another major difference between Mercury's crust and that of Earth's as we can feel with earthquakes the crust of Earth is made up of several plate tectonics that float along the mantle as these plates move over time they can drastically alter the surface of the planet Mercury is without these tectonic movements and therefore hasn't experienced the same change in outward appearance as our homeworld a visual of Mercury's surface will show a speckling of impact craters all over some of which are well-preserved and believed to be billions of years old number four Mercury's atmosphere Mercury's atmosphere or lack thereof is a unique feature to this tiny space rock where most planets are surrounded by a steady atmosphere Mercury's small size and weak gravitational pull make it nearly impossible to keep a normal atmosphere the thin layer that isn't swept away by solar winds is made up of traces of hydrogen helium oxygen sodium potassium magnesium and calcium a lack of any sustainable atmosphere is responsible for mercury strange fluctuation in temperature which can range from minus 280 degrees to 800 degrees Fahrenheit or minus 173 degrees to 427 degrees Celsius in regards to temperature the atmosphere acts as a sort of blockade that prevents heat from escaping easily often causing higher temperatures on the surface without this barrier heat is able to escape leading to extremely low temperatures number three visiting mercury Mercury's proximity to the Sun and large fluctuation in surface temperature may not seem like a problem to us here on earth but these two factors are direct reasons why there have been only two missions that have been able to perform flybys of the Swift planet on November 3rd 1973 NASA launched Mariner 10 to fly past Mercury and Venus on March 29th 1974 the vessel came within 436 miles or 703 kilometers of the planet's surface flying by two more times over the next year and mapping approximately 45% of Mercury's surface in 2004 NASA sent messenger to take higher resolution photos of the surface succeeding with four flybys over the course of three years in 2018 the ESA and JAXA will be launching Beppo Colombo to continue monitoring the tiniest planet.
Number two mercury as an element the element of mercury wasn't named for an overabundance of it found on the planet though it does have a small connection with the small body mercury also known as quicksilver is a fast-moving liquid element which was given its name due to its speedy property much like the planet Quicksilver remains the only metal still referenced by the alchemical planetary name and shares an alchemical symbol with the astrological symbol for the planet Mercury the element is known to be very toxic and for years has been used in common household objects like thermometers black lights and had also been used along with silver and tin to create an amalgam used to fill decayed teeth number one planet Vulcan being as fast as it is it's difficult to map out the entirety of the solar system especially without the equipment astronomist have access to today that's partially why during the 19th century there was believed to be another planet tucked between mercury and the Sun French mathematician your banlieue varier noticed irregularities to Mercury's orbit and dedicated the remainder of his life to studying the planet that had since been named Vulcan Mercury's orbit had a slight wobble to it one that neither earth nor Venus could be responsible for leading to the hypothesis of planet Vulcan excitement over planet Vulcan eventually died down with Einstein's general theory of relativity which in short explains the wobble hey everyone thanks for watching if you'd like to see more videos like this be sure to visit and sign up with our friends at geek fuel by using our affiliate link found in the description section for just $20 a month you'll receive at least $50 worth of geeky stuff that you'll actually use each box comes with a t-shirt you'll actually want to wear and a free steam game download usually valued at $10 or more don't miss out on this monthly box.
