Question

The largest planet in the solar system is ___________.
a.)Saturn
b.)Jupiter
c.)Mars
d.)Earth

Answer 1

Hint: Our solar system presently consists of eight planets among which Jupiter is the largest.

Complete step by step answer:
There are eight planets in our solar system. They are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

The size of a planet is determined by the length of its radius. The planets in our solar system have radii in the range of 2,000 km to 70,000 km.

The largest planet in our solar system is Jupiter which has a radius of 69,911 km.
So the correct answer is B) Jupiter.

The planets in the solar system which are midway in terms of distance from the sun are seen to be the largest. This is evident by the fact that Jupiter is the largest planet and situated at 5th position and the second largest planet, Saturn (with a radii of 58, 232 km) at the 6th position.
This is because these planets have not solidified fully, and are large balls of swirling liquids and gas. Since, liquids and gases have a larger volume than solids, so they occupy a larger space.

Additional information:
 Until 2006, Pluto was considered to be the 9th planet of our solar system and was the smallest with a radius of 1188.3 km. However, in 2006, it was declared as a dwarf planet and thus, lost its status as the smallest planet in our solar system.
Now, the smallest planet in our solar system is Mercury, with a radius of 2439.7 km.

Note:
 Students can remember that the planets in the middle of the solar system sequence are the largest and the one closest to the sun is the smallest.
For memorizing the sequence of the planets, one can use the mnemonic-
“My Very Efficient Mother Just Served Us Nuts” where the first letter of each word stands for the names of the planets in proper sequence, the sequence being
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.