What percentage of Mercury's entire volume is estimated to be occupied by its metal core?
Answer
nearly 85 percent
The sheer scale of Mercury's metallic heart is quantified by the volume its core occupies relative to the entire planet. Scientists estimate that this metal core encompasses nearly 85 percent of Mercury's total volume. This figure is exceptional when contrasted with other terrestrial planets; for instance, Earth’s core makes up only about 17 percent of its total volume. This massive core not only establishes Mercury as the most iron-laden world relative to its size but also implies a highly differentiated interior where the dense metallic material dominates the structure entirely.
Related Questions
What percentage of Mercury's bulk composition is metallic material?What percentage of Mercury's entire volume is estimated to be occupied by its metal core?What is the calculated uncompressed density for Earth's constituent materials?What elements, revealed by MESSENGER, complicate the simple vaporization model for Mercury's formation?What fraction of Mercury’s total diameter is estimated for its core's radius?What geological process tends to recycle surface materials back into Earth's mantle?What is the name of the exoplanet noted to rival Mercury’s metallic leanings?For the giant impact hypothesis, what mass fraction was the impactor relative to the initial Mercury mass?How is the iron on Mars’s surface characterized, leading to its signature color?In terms of mean density in the Solar System, where does Mercury rank relative to Earth?Smelting metals from which bodies could potentially be more energy-efficient than digging out Mercury’s core?