Why is Venus hotter than Mercury even though Mercury is closest to the Sun?
Venus is hotter because it has a thick atmosphere that contains great quantities of greenhouse gases (such as carbon dioxide). The clouds trap all the heat. Mercury, however, has no true atmosphere. Hope that helps!
Thank you very much. This helps a lot. Marcus, age 10
Venus is hotter than Mercury, despite Mercury being closer to the Sun, because of the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect occurs when certain gases in a planet's atmosphere trap heat from the Sun, causing the planet's surface temperature to increase.
To understand why Venus is hotter than Mercury, we need to consider their atmospheres. While both planets have atmospheres, Venus has a much thicker atmosphere compared to Mercury. Venus's atmosphere mainly consists of carbon dioxide (CO2), which is a known greenhouse gas. On the other hand, Mercury has a very thin atmosphere, primarily composed of helium and trace amounts of other gases.
The greenhouse effect on Venus is incredibly pronounced due to the high concentration of CO2 in its atmosphere. This causes sunlight to penetrate the atmosphere and reach the surface, where it is absorbed and re-emitted as heat. However, because the greenhouse gases in Venus' atmosphere trap a significant amount of this heat, it cannot escape back into space, resulting in a buildup of heat and raising the planet's temperature to extreme levels.
Mercury's thin atmosphere, on the other hand, is mostly transparent to sunlight, meaning that much of the incoming solar energy is either reflected back into space or absorbed on the planet's surface directly. With limited greenhouse gases to trap heat, there is no significant atmospheric effect to retain the absorbed heat, causing Mercury's temperature to be much lower than Venus.
In summary, Venus is hotter than Mercury primarily due to the presence of a thick atmosphere with a high concentration of greenhouse gases, mainly carbon dioxide. This traps heat from the Sun, creating a runaway greenhouse effect and leading to Venus having a scorching surface temperature, despite its proximity to the Sun.