Mercury is a small planet and therefore has trouble holding on to an atmosphere. How then do scientist account for the extremely thin atmosphere that was found around the planet in 1985?
A) Mercury is so hot that gas is constantly evaporating from its molten lakes and oceans
B) Mercury's moon is so close to it that it can pull out some material from the planet
C) the Sun's "wind" of particles is chipping atoms off the surface of Mercury
D) Mercury's active volcanoes give off a lot of material; while much escapes, a certain number of atoms "exhaled" by recent volcanoes are in orbit around Mercury at any given time
E) no one can suggest any explanation for the atmosphere at the present time; it's a mystery

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The Sun's "wind" of particles is chipping atoms off the surface of Mercury, which creates a very thin atmosphere around the planet.

Mercury Is a Small Planet and Therefore Has Trouble Holding