Mercury is closest, right? Maybe I’m wrong. But if it is, then why isn’t it hotter than the second rock from the sun?
In: Chemistry
Venus is hotter than Mercury because it has a much thicker atmosphere. … The heat the atmosphere traps is called the greenhouse effect. If Venus did not have an atmosphere the surface would be -128 degrees Fahrenheit much colder than 333 degrees Fahrenheit, the average temperature of Mercury.
You need an atmosphere to retain heat. A rock floating in space is being bombarded with solar radiation, but virtually all the energy gets rebounded away immediately. The heat doesn’t stick around, for the most part.
When you have a thick atmosphere, it causes a greenhouse effect that traps more of the energy so it doesn’t get rebounded away immediately. Mercury has almost no atmosphere, but Venus has a very thick atmosphere, heavy on greenhouse gases that trap the heat in the air.
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