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Quiz about Twenty Questions About Mercury
Quiz about Twenty Questions About Mercury

Twenty Questions About Mercury Quiz

I am doing a series of 20 questions of each of the planets as well as asteroids and comets. Here are twenty questions on the planet Mercury. What do you know about the Sun's nearest neighbor?

A multiple-choice quiz by almach. Estimated time: 4 mins.
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Author
almach
Time
4 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
89,812
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
20
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
12 / 20
Plays
3997
Awards
Top 35% Quiz
Last 3 plays: Guest 98 (13/20), Guest 12 (15/20), Guest 72 (10/20).
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Question 1 of 20
1. After the reclassification of Pluto in 2006, Mercury became the smallest planet in the Solar System.


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Question 2 of 20
2. Mercury has a magnetic field.


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Question 3 of 20
3. The surface of Mercury facing the Sun is the hottest anywhere in the Solar System (excluding the Sun).


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Question 4 of 20
4. Mercury has how many natural satellites? Hint


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Question 5 of 20
5. How many astronomical units (AU) is the planet Mercury from the Sun? Hint


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Question 6 of 20
6. The gravity of Mercury as compared to Earth (which is 1.00g) is? Hint


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Question 7 of 20
7. The axial tilt of Mercury is how many degrees? Hint


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Question 8 of 20
8. Mercury's greatest elongation from the Sun varies from? Hint


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Question 9 of 20
9. Copernicus, who has a crater named after him on the Moon, described Mercury many times.


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Question 10 of 20
10. Mercury is an ___________ planet (from the viewpoint of Earth).

Answer: (Not as good)

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Question 11 of 20
11. What is it called when Mercury passes in front of the Sun when viewed from the Earth? Hint


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Question 12 of 20
12. What is the name of the first spacecraft to visit Mercury? Hint


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Question 13 of 20
13. What does the surface of Mercury look like? Hint


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Question 14 of 20
14. Mercury goes through phases just like our Moon does as seen from the Earth.


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Question 15 of 20
15. What is the mass of Mercury compared to the Earth? Hint


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Question 16 of 20
16. What is the rotation of Mercury in Earth days? Hint


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Question 17 of 20
17. Mercury's year is how many Earth's days? Hint


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Question 18 of 20
18. At the time of writing (August 2002) what is the name of the next probe scheduled to be launched to Mercury? Hint


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Question 19 of 20
19. Mercury was not known before the invention of the telescope.


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Question 20 of 20
20. Does Mercury have an appreciable atmosphere?



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quiz
Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. After the reclassification of Pluto in 2006, Mercury became the smallest planet in the Solar System.

Answer: True

Mercury's diameter is only 4,878 kilometers. Compare this to our Moon's diameter of 3,476 kilometers and one can see that Mercury is not much larger than our Moon. In fact several satellites of Jupiter and Saturn are actually larger.
2. Mercury has a magnetic field.

Answer: True

The magnetic field is of unknown origin, however, it is not strong enough to create a belt of charged particles like the one around the Earth (Van Allen belts).
3. The surface of Mercury facing the Sun is the hottest anywhere in the Solar System (excluding the Sun).

Answer: False

Actually, Venus, the second planet from the Sun, has a temperature of about 900 degrees F. (Sun facing side), while Mercury (Sun facing side) is about 600 degrees F. Venus' cloud layer causes a greenhouse effect. Try the 20 question about Venus quiz to learn more about that planet.
4. Mercury has how many natural satellites?

Answer: None

 Mercury, the innermost planet has no natural satellites.
5. How many astronomical units (AU) is the planet Mercury from the Sun?

Answer: 0.38 AU

 The Earth is one astronomical unit from the Sun, about 93 million miles or 150,000,000 kilometers. Mercury averages about 36 million miles or 58 million kilometers from the Sun.
6. The gravity of Mercury as compared to Earth (which is 1.00g) is?

Answer: 0.38g

 Much lower than Earth's gravity. The escape velocity from Mercury is 4.3 km per sec, while the Earth's escape velocity is 11.2 km per sec.
7. The axial tilt of Mercury is how many degrees?

Answer: 2

 Mercury's has the least tilt of all the planets.
8. Mercury's greatest elongation from the Sun varies from?

Answer: 16 degrees to 27 degrees

 This means that Mercury never rises or sets very far from the Sun. Mercury is rarely seen in totally dark skies, it almost always rises and sets in twilight. Elongation is the angular distance between the Sun and a planet in orbit around the Sun, as seen from Earth.
9. Copernicus, who has a crater named after him on the Moon, described Mercury many times.

Answer: False

Copernicus, who placed the Sun at the center of the Solar System, apparently never saw the planet Mercury, probably due to its proximity to the Sun, and made no references to the planet in his writings. Copernicus died in 1543, the year his work "De Revolutionibus" was published.
10. Mercury is an ___________ planet (from the viewpoint of Earth).

Answer: Inferior

 Planets closer to the Sun than Earth are called inferior planets while planets beyond the Earth are called superior planets.
11. What is it called when Mercury passes in front of the Sun when viewed from the Earth?

Answer: Transit

 This always occurs at the time of inferior conjunction and this occurs about 13 times a century (for Mercury).
12. What is the name of the first spacecraft to visit Mercury?

Answer: Mariner 10

 Mercury was visited by Mariner 10 during its flybys in 1974/75. Over 3,500 photos were taken during the three encounters with Mercury.
13. What does the surface of Mercury look like?

Answer: Cratered like our Moon

 Most people could not distinguish a close-up photo of the surface of Mercury from one of the Moon's farside.
14. Mercury goes through phases just like our Moon does as seen from the Earth.

Answer: True

Since Mercury is closer to the Sun than the Earth, it goes through phases. However, since Mercury never gets too far from the Sun, these phases are difficult to see, and like Venus, the phases of Mercury are not visible to the naked eye.
15. What is the mass of Mercury compared to the Earth?

Answer: 0.055

 It would take about 20 Mercurys to weigh as much as our Earth.
16. What is the rotation of Mercury in Earth days?

Answer: 59

 For each revolution around the Sun, Mercury rotates only one and a half times.
17. Mercury's year is how many Earth's days?

Answer: 88

 Being the closest planet to the Sun, Mercury is the swiftest. If you are 10 years old on Earth, you would be about 40 years old on Mercury!
18. At the time of writing (August 2002) what is the name of the next probe scheduled to be launched to Mercury?

Answer: Messenger

 MESSENGER stands for MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging mission. Messenger is scheduled to launch in 2004 and arrive at Mercury in 2009. NOTE: Messenger successfully launched on August 3, 2004.
19. Mercury was not known before the invention of the telescope.

Answer: False

Mercury is one of the five planets known in ancient times (Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn are the others).
20. Does Mercury have an appreciable atmosphere?

Answer: No

The atmospheric pressure on Mercury is only about 1 x 10-9 millibars; this is about 2 trillionths of the atmospheric pressure on Earth. So it is reasonably safe to say Mercury has no real atmosphere. Its atmosphere does contain trace amounts of hydrogen and helium.
Source: Author almach

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor crisw before going online.
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Referenced Topics
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