Weather In Space (the Rocky Planets): Crash Course Kids #43.1

if you're packing for a trip to Hawaii chances are you're gonna bring some stuff like a bathing suit and shorts a few t-shirts and flip-flops and your good buddy me of course but if you're going to end Arctica your suitcase probably looks a lot different you'll need more layers a big heavy coat a scarf gloves all the warm fuzzy things but what if you're traveling to mercury what do you need to pack for that okay Spacey yeah but let's just pretend we could just walk around on Mercury like we do here on earth without a spacesuit what kind of weather would we be dressing for we know there's weather on earth and the fact is there's weather on other planets too some of its familiar like wind but some of it is a little more well extreme so what is the weather like on other planets well before we leave Earth to find out can I get a reminder of what exactly weather is again oh right weather is the condition of the atmosphere on different parts of a planet even though there's only one atmosphere on earth the weather isn't the same all over the world there are many different factors that can change the atmosphere in a certain area and together they determine what the weather is like from one minute and from one place to the next these factors include temperature humidity wind speed and direction and lots of other things but when you're talking about the overall weather patterns for a certain region of the world you're talking about that area's climates weather is the minute-by-minute changes in the atmosphere climate is what the weather is like over a long period of time in a specific area okay got it you know what else has got it it being weather and climate the other planets in our solar system and let me tell you there is some freaky weather situations happening up there so why don't we take a trip to each planet to see what they've got going on weather-wise let's start with those that are closest to the Sun Mercury Venus and Mars otherwise known as the rocky planets which by the way is a pretty sweet band name these three planets all have one thing in common with Earth they're all solid worlds with hard rocky surfaces that if you ever went there you could stand on let's take a virtual trip to each one to see how hot cold windy or whatever these three planets are first hello mercury or should I say mer if you were thinking mercury would be a super hot place because it's the closest planet to the Sun well you're half right mercury is the closest planet to the Sun but it's not actually the hottest temperatures on Mercury can go from a super chilly 170 degrees below zero at night to a very warm 425 degrees Celsius during the day why the extreme changes during its rotation when one side of mercury is facing the Sun that side gets super hot button mercury doesn't have a lot of gases around it like the earth does without these gases to hold in heat the planet can get really really really cold too especially on the side that's facing away from the Sun so the planets proximity to the Sun combined with its thin atmosphere give mercury the biggest changes in temperatures of any of the planets things get even more extreme on Venus the next closest planet to the Sun we've sent probes to Venus to take pictures of what it looks like and they show us that the planet is rocky and covered with thick clouds but it doesn't have any life on it because Venus is extremely hot in fact even though it's not the closest to the Sun Venus is the hottest planet in our solar system with temperatures reaching as high as 460 degrees Celsius why is Venus so hot because of something called the greenhouse effect the greenhouse effect is what happens when light from the Sun hits the surface of a planet and warms it up that he tries to bounce back into space but a gas called carbon dioxide traps a lot of it around the planet keeping it warm it's sort of like what happens inside your car when you keep your windows up on a hot day oh and next time you complain about it raining you should know that it rains sulfuric acid on Venus yeah instead of water Venus's clouds are made of a corrosive sulfuric acid that burning acid doesn't reach the surface though because Venus is toasty temperatures causes the acid to evaporate before it has time to hit the ground so yay okay let's cool off and head to the next and final planet for the day Mars the red planet is known for brewing up some serious dust storms earth has dust storms too but not like the ones on Mars on Mars a dust storm can get pretty intense in a matter of hours and take over the entire planet within a few days a lot Martian dust storms actually come from the same place Hellas Basin the name of a deep crater on Mars the crater was formed billions of years ago when a huge asteroid hit the surface of the planet the crater is filled with dust at the bottom but the temperature at the bottom of the crater can be 10 degrees cooler than the temperatures at the top this difference in temperature creates wind that picks up the dust which then creates a storm that takes over the basin and then the planet and you thought your room was the same after all these high and low temperatures acid rain and dust attacks I'm ready for a good old fashioned thunderstorm so let's head home to earth and now you know what to pack if you ever have to take a trip to Mercury Venus or Mars you got to prepare for extreme swings in temperature on Mercury face meltingly hot heat on venus and nasty planet-wide dust storms on Mars but just like our planet the rocky planets all have weather and climates of their own sometimes they're similar to what we have here on earth and sometimes they're more extreme and speaking of extreme check out our next episode to find out what the weather's like on gas giants planets with no surface at all I'll leave you with one teeny-tiny hint on what to expect Diamond rain see you soon you

Channel: Crash Course Kids

Views: 334,025

Rating: 4.6762495 out of 5

Keywords: crash course, crash course kids, science, kids science, 5th grade science, astronomy, planetary weather, the rocky planets, mercury, venus, earth, mars, sabrina cruz, nerdy and quirky

Id: Dvhl891zGqU

Length: 5min 55sec (355 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 03 2016