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Suppose a student develops a scale model of the planets. Which two planets should be the closest in diameter on the model?



Comparison of Planet Size

Planet Diameter (km)
Mercury 4,800
Venus 12,100
Earth 12,800
Mars 6,700
Jupiter 143,000
Saturn 120,000
Uranus 51,100
Neptune 50,000
(1 point)
Responses

Mercury and Neptune
Mercury and Neptune

Uranus and Saturn
Uranus and Saturn

Earth and Venus
Earth and Venus

Mars and Jupiter
Mars and Jupiter

1 answer

To determine which two planets should be closest in diameter on the scale model, we can look at the given diameters of the planets and find the pair that has the smallest difference.

Here are the diameters for reference:

  • Mercury: 4,800 km
  • Venus: 12,100 km
  • Earth: 12,800 km
  • Mars: 6,700 km
  • Jupiter: 143,000 km
  • Saturn: 120,000 km
  • Uranus: 51,100 km
  • Neptune: 50,000 km

Now, let's compare the diameters of the planets pairwise to find the closest two:

  • Mercury (4,800) and Neptune (50,000): Difference = 45,200
  • Mercury (4,800) and Uranus (51,100): Difference = 46,300
  • Earth (12,800) and Venus (12,100): Difference = 700
  • Mars (6,700) and Jupiter (143,000): Difference = 136,300
  • Neptune (50,000) and Uranus (51,100): Difference = 1,100
  • Saturn (120,000) and Jupiter (143,000): Difference = 23,000

The smallest difference in diameter is between Earth and Venus (700 km) and also between Neptune and Uranus (1,100 km).

Based on the available responses, the closest pair in diameter is Earth and Venus.

So the answer is Earth and Venus.