Question

What is the size of earth compared to other planets in the solar system?

Answer 1

Hint: Our planet Earth comes at third place if we start counting from the sun. But earth is not the largest planet in our solar system nor is it the smallest one. Earth is covered with almost two-thirds by ocean and it is the only planet known to harbour life.

Complete answer:
Our solar system was formed around $$4.5$$ billion years ago; and all the planets and the other objects form a gravitationally bound system of the Sun. There are a total of eight planets in our solar system. Out of these eight planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars, the four smaller inner planets, are terrestrial planets as they are made mostly of rock and metal.

The four outer planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, are composed of mostly gases and ice, with masses much greater than the terrestrial planets. If we talk in terms of the size, then Jupiter has the largest radius and is approximately $$1,120\mathrm{\%}$$ the size of Earth and after Jupiter Saturn is the largest with size approximately $$945\mathrm{\%}$$ the size of Earth.

 If we arrange all the planets of our solar system in decreasing order of their radii or size, then our Earth comes at fifth place having radius equal to $$6,371km$$ and Mercury comes at the last position with size approximately $$38\mathrm{\%}$$ the size of Earth. But Earth is the largest and densest of all the four inner planets.

Note: The atmosphere on Earth differs dramatically from that on other planets as it has free oxygen present in the atmosphere. It’s only one natural satellite, the Moon is the only large satellite of a terrestrial planet in the Solar System.