Question

The planet nearest to the Sun is
     A) Mercury
     B) Earth
     C) Venus
     D) Pluto

Answer 1

Hint: This problem can be solved by recalling the sequence of the planets in our solar system in the correct order of their increasing distances from the sun. There are a total of eight planets in our solar system.

Complete step by step solution:
The solar system is made up of eight planets with the sun as the source of light and energy for all of them. Our planet, the earth is the third planet in the solar system in terms of the distance from the sun.
The sequence of the planets in terms of their increasing distances from the sun are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune.
Pluto was also considered to be the ninth planet in the solar system. However, it is now considered to be a dwarf planet.
Mercury is the first planet in the sequence and hence, is the closest to the sun.
Therefore, the correct option is A) Mercury.
Additional information:
Though mercury is the closest planet to the sun, the hottest planet is Venus since it has a thick atmosphere which traps the heat from the sun and does not let it escape.

Note: Students must have the order of the planets in our solar system correctly memorized as this can help in solving a lot of such questions. A simple mnemonic to remember the order is to remember the sentence, “My Very Efficient Mother Just Served Us Nuts” where the capital letters of each word represent the names of the names of the planets in correct order – that is – Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.