preview

The Similarities And Characteristics Of The Four Planets

Decent Essays

The Four Terrestrial Planets
A planet consists of a solid body that revolves around a star and shines by reflected light. The sun is the only star known to have planets, although certain other stars have companions that may be planets. The sun, nine known major planets, in order of increasing distance from the sun are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. The planets are divided into two groups according to their size and structure.
In our solar system, the terrestrial planets are the four planets closest to the Sun, namely, Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. The majority composition of these solar system planets is silicate rocks and iron. The small, rocky, terrestrial planets show similarities and differences …show more content…

Earth is the planet that we live on. The Earth is the third planet away from the sun (Mercury and Venus are nearer) and is the fifth largest planet in the solar system. Earth is the only planet which is suited to life of any kind. It is usually said that the Earth is shaped like a ball but slightly bulges and flattened areas, which give it a slightly irregular shape. The planet is surrounded by an atmosphere. The oceans make up four fifths of the Earth’s surface. The land area consists of four large masses which are divided into seven contents, smaller masses and …show more content…

Magnetic field is a vector quantity defined by the force exerted on a given object at each point in a particular region. Venus’ magnetic field is much weaker compared to the magnetic field of Earth. The Earth’s magnetic field is generated internally, the result created by the planetary core and convection from the same area. Conversely, Venus’ magnetic field is created by the interaction of the ionosphere and the solar wind. Similarly to Earth, Venus appears to possess a liquid core that rotates like the Earth. However, Venus cannot transfer heat via convection due to the fact that the surface is encrusted by volcanic

Get Access