Mercury Is a Small Planet and Therefore Has Trouble Holding

question 9

Multiple Choice

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

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Definitions:

MSC (Marginal Social Cost)

The complete expense incurred by society for the production of one more unit of a good or service, encompassing both individual costs and any external effects.

Marginal Social Cost

The total cost to society of producing an additional unit of a good or service, including both private costs and externalities.

Society

A large group of individuals who live in the same area, share a common culture, norms, and values, and are organized in a cooperative manner.

Negative Production Externality

A situation in which the production of goods or services imposes costs on third parties not involved in the transaction, often not reflected in market prices.