Question

Explain why the surface of Venus is hotter than the surface of Mercury.

Answer 1

Mercury has no atmosphere , so nearly the whole heat absorbed is radiated back
while Venus has an atmosphere,so some of the heat is trapped by it which makes its surface hotter

Answer 2

Although mercury is the closest to the sun but it has no atmosphere to trap the heat received from the sun. While Venus has an atmosphere with very high amount (96.5%) of carbon dioxide gas . Since , CO 2 is a greenhouse gas , the atmosphere of Venus traps the sun’s heat and doesn’t let it escape easily . As a result, the surface temperature of the planet increases to about 467 0 C making it the hottest planet in the solar system .