• Question: Do all planets have the same density?

    Asked by Chrissypops to Helen on 21 Nov 2014.
    • Photo: Helen Johnson

      Helen Johnson answered on 21 Nov 2014:

      No not at all! Even in our own solar system the planets are really different densities. The inner planets like Earth are made from rock and are pretty dense, but the outer planets – Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune are what we call gas giants. They’re made up of mostly Hydrogen and Helium, and don’t really have any kind of surface you could land on. This doesn’t mean they’re not heavy – you could fit about 1000 Earths inside of Jupiter and it’s the most massive planet in the solar system – but they’re really not very dense. One of my favourite facts is this:

      If you had a giant swimming pool out in space, and put Saturn in, it would float! 😀

      Thanks, hope to chat with you in the live chats tomorrow!

Comments