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Like the Earth, Mercury has an iron core. But Mercury's core occupies proportionately more (3/4) of the planet's diameter than Earth's does (about half). You can think of Mercury as a metal ball the size of the Moon surrounded by about 700 kilometers (430 miles) of rocky crust. The large relative size of Mercury's core makes it the most iron-rich planet in the solar system, with iron accounting for 65-70% of the planet's mass. Mercury's abundance of iron resulted from its position near the Sun. When the planets were forming out of the same cloud of gas and dust as the Sun, the temperatures in the warm inner regions of the primordial solar nebula were so high that iron-rich minerals were just about the only ones that could condense into solids. Farther away from the Sun, other minerals could also condense. Thus the iron content of the rocky planets in the solar system decreases with increasing distance from the Sun. Mercury's iron core may also be responsible for one of the most surprising findings from Mariner 10 -- the planet's weak magnetic field, 100 times weaker than Earth's. Astronomers and geologists are still trying to figure out what causes Mercury's field. In the case of the Earth, rapid rotation of its molten iron core generates electrical currents which produce the Earth's magnetic field. But Mercury is so small, astronomers had assumed its core had cooled and solidified. Plus, it rotates too slowly to generate a magnetic field the way the Earth does. Or so they thought. Perhaps Mercury's core is still partially liquid, or perhaps the magnetic field is "left over'' from an earlier time when the iron core was molten. Astronomers continue to work on this puzzle. Mercury's extremely large core is made up of iron. For its small size, this planet contains a large amount of iron. No one really knows how this large iron core could have formed. Many scientists think that when Mercury was in its early stages of formation, it crashed into another planet whose core contained a large amount of iron.

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8y ago
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13y ago

Mercury's relatively diminutive size makes it hard for the gravitational force to hold any sort of constant atmospheric composition, but at any given time hydrogen, helium, oxygen, sodium, calcium, and potassium are floating around Mercury as a sort of "pseudo-atmosphere."

Mercury's high density and relatively large magnetic field almost assuredly mean that its core has a lot of iron in it. It's surface composition reflects this as well as most of Mercury's surface is composed of metallic material, the rest being silicon based.

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15y ago

iron rich Very big core to

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8y ago

It is believed to be mostly iron.

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8y ago

Iron-nickel

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15y ago

iron :)

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Q: Mercurys core is mostly made out of?
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Related questions

What is mercurys core mostly made of?

== == Mercury has an iron-nickel core.


What is the diameter of Mercurys core?

The diameter od mercurys core is 3,600 km, 2,235 miles.


Which planet has the largest core by the diameter of the plant?

I believe it is Mercury. Mercurys core is 75 percent of its planet. Its core is made of Iron. You might want to do more research though I am not Exactly sure.


What is mercurys surface material?

mercurys surface material is made out of nothing but craters


What is earths core mostly made of mostly?

basalt and granite


Is mercurys core really hot or just hot?

The core of Mercury is very hot and not at all cold. The core is made up of iron rich ore which has an almost complete molten liquid global magentic field.


Earths core is made of an alloy of?

earth core is made of an alloy of.... MOSTLY IRON AND NICKEL


What layers of the earth is mostly made of metals?

Inner core and outer core.


What layers of the earth are made of mostly of metals?

The core.


What layers of the earth are made mostly of metals?

The core.


What layers of the earth are made mostly of metal?

The core.


What is the Earth's core made mostly of?

basalt and granite