Question

The smallest planet in the solar system is
(A) Mars
(B) Jupiter
(C) Mercury
(D) Earth

Answer 1

Hint: In this question, we are supposed to find the smallest planet in the solar system. The size of a planet in the solar system is defined by the mean radius of that planet. Consider the solar system, it contains the sun and the rest of the planets and objects, what you have to do is to consider only the planets that too in the sequence of increasing distance. The one nearest to the sun will come first and the farthest will come at the last position. Then identify the planets and according to the mean radius, assign them the size.

Complete answer:
Solar system is a system which is gravitationally bound and consists of the sun and other objects which orbit around the sun. The objects which are large in size are the planets, the eight planets. Rest of the small objects are dwarf planets and other solar system bodies. The eight planets are namely Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. This is the correct order as mentioned in the hint.

Mercury is nearest to the Sun and Neptune is farthest from the Sun. Now, the mean radii of the planets are as follows: Mercury – 2440km, Venus – 6000km, Earth – 6400km, Mars – 3400km, Jupiter – 71500km, Saturn – 60000km, Uranus – 25600km and Neptune – 24800km. As you can see, Mercury has the smallest mean radius. So, the smallest planet in the solar system is the Mercury.

Hence, option C is correct.

Note:You should always remember the order in which the planets are written, that is, distance from the Sun – nearest to farthest. Keep in mind that the smallest planet is Mercury and the largest planet is Jupiter and also the approximate values of the mean radii of planets. Also try to remember the order of planets as the size of planets, that is, Mercury, Mars, Venus, Earth, Neptune, Uranus, Saturn and Jupiter. Also note that Pluto is not considered as a planet, it is a dwarf planet.