Science 6
Solar System Scale
A student uses a diagram to show the scale sizes of planets. Which planets diameter would be approximately the distance across the United States?
To answer this question, we need to know the diameter of the United States and the diameters of the planets in our solar system.
The diameter of the United States can vary depending on which points you measure across, but on average it is approximately 4,000 kilometers (2,500 miles).
Below are the approximate diameters of the planets in our solar system:
- Mercury: 4,879 kilometers (3,032 miles)
- Venus: 12,104 kilometers (7,521 miles)
- Earth: 12,742 kilometers (7,918 miles)
- Mars: 6,779 kilometers (4,212 miles)
- Jupiter: 139,820 kilometers (86,881 miles)
- Saturn: 116,460 kilometers (72,367 miles)
- Uranus: 50,724 kilometers (31,518 miles)
- Neptune: 49,244 kilometers (30,775 miles)
Based on these measurements, none of the planets in our solar system have a diameter that is approximately the distance across the United States (4,000 kilometers or 2,500 miles).
To determine which planet's diameter would be approximately the distance across the United States, we need to compare the diameter of each planet to the distance across the United States.
The diameter of the United States is approximately 2,800 miles (4,506 kilometers).
Here are the approximate diameters of some planets in our solar system:
1. Mercury: 3,032 miles (4,879 kilometers)
2. Venus: 7,521 miles (12,104 kilometers)
3. Earth: 7,917 miles (12,742 kilometers)
4. Mars: 4,212 miles (6,779 kilometers)
5. Jupiter: 86,881 miles (139,820 kilometers)
6. Saturn: 72,367 miles (116,464 kilometers)
7. Uranus: 31,518 miles (50,724 kilometers)
8. Neptune: 30,599 miles (49,244 kilometers)
Comparing these numbers, we can see that the diameter of Earth (7,917 miles) is closest to the distance across the United States (2,800 miles). Therefore, the diameter of Earth would be approximately the distance across the United States.
Answers:
1.Mercury
2.Earth and Venus
3.Saturn
4.Neptune
To figure out which planet's diameter would be approximately the distance across the United States, we need to know the diameter of each planet. The largest planet in our solar system is Jupiter, which has a diameter of about 139,820 kilometers.
Next, we need to find out the distance across the United States. The approximate distance from the east coast (New York City) to the west coast (Los Angeles) is about 4,500 kilometers.
To compare the two distances, we can divide Jupiter's diameter by the distance across the United States:
139,820 km / 4,500 km ≈ 31
This means that the diameter of Jupiter is roughly 31 times larger than the distance across the United States.
Therefore, the planet whose diameter would be approximately the distance across the United States is Jupiter.