What does the density of Mercury tell us about the planet\'s make up, especially

Question

What does the density of Mercury tell us about the planet's make up, especially compared to Earth?

a) that Mercury is made up of the same materials in the same concentrations as Earth.

b) that Mercury must have a higher concentration of heavy elements than Earth does.

c) that Mercury is made up of lighter materials than what Earth is made of.

d) because Mercury is smaller than Earth no comparison can be made.

e) we still know very little about Mercury's make up, and because of this comparisons to Earth are bias.

Explanation / Answer

the answer is b) that Mercury must have a higher concentration of heavy elements than Earth does.

Mercury has the second largest mean density of 5.427 g/cm3 which is slightly less than the Earth’s density of 5.515 g/cm3
Mercury is comparitively much smaller than earth which is why its inner regions are subjected to less amount of compression. Therefore the high density of mercury is believed to be the result of high concentrations of iron-rich core.

Study tells us that metals like iron and nickel ores are believed to make upto approximately 70% of the mercury's mass

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