MystiFACT-or-FICTION challenge Response -#2 Is Pluto really the smallest planet in our solar system?

in mystifact •  7 years ago 

Not everyone knows that since 2006 Pluto has actually been reclassified as a dwarf planet or trans-Neptunian object, reducing the total number of "classical" planets by 1, from 9. This in turn leaves us with only 8 "classical" planets, from largest to smallest: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Earth, Venus, Mars, and Mercury.

Not only is Mercury the smallest in size, but is also the closest to our sun.

More Interestings fact about Mercury:
"Mercury's rotation around its axis lasts 59 days, and it takes 88 days to move around its orbit around the Sun. Interestingly, 59 is exactly 2/3 of 88. This is not by chance - it is an effect of the Sun's gravitational field on Mercury. It is a similar phenomenon that the Earth's Moon always has the same "face"; the Moon always turns the same side towards the Earth.

This has a most unusual effect on the length of a Mercurian "day" as measured from noon to noon (note that the word "day" is here used to mean "one daytime period + one nighttime period", corresponding to "24 hours" on Earth). In fact, such a day on Mercury is twice as long as a Mercurian "year" !" Source

A 20 year old born on mercury would actually only be 10 mercurian days old!

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Great post, thank you for your response to my challenge :) May I point out that 20 Earth years is about 83 years on Mercury, so a 20 year old born on Mercury would be 83 "years" old and 134 "days" old

You're welcome! I was actually comparing the Mercury year (88 Earth days) with the Mercury solar day (176 Earth days), not Mercury's "sidereal day"(59 Earth days) or with Earth years or days.
176 / 88 = 2:1 ratio or (20 Mercury years : 10 Mercury "solar" days).
I believe you're saying:
1 Mercury year = 88 Earth days
20 Earth years x 365 = 7300 Earth days
7300/88 = 83 Mercury years
20 Mercury years x 88 Earth days= 1760 Earth days
1760/365 = 4.83 Earth years to 20 years on Mercury
or as a ratio:
20 / 4.83 = 4.14 or 83 / 20 = 4.15
Which is pretty close.
Thanks for the reply, and the challenge. It's been fun!
Even if my brain hurts a little now... :)

hmm...you just did some interesting math stuff....

a day on Mercury is twice as long as a Mercurian "year"..
A 20 year old born on mercury would actually only be 10 mercurian days old!
seems like a time dilation stuff!!...but it is not..

Lol, yes it sounds pretty wild!