a true rotation period of 58.6 days. " It is the closest planet to the sun and therefore orbits faster than any other planet " (Thompson/Turk, 542, 1993). It is said that Mercury rotates three times for every two trips around the sun, so that during Planets 3 every alternate perihelon passage the same face points directly at the sun. " Geologically, the most remarkable features of Mercury are compressional cliffs or faults, just the sort of wrinkles that might form in the crust if the interior of the planet shrank slightly " (Morrison, 74, 1993). It is speculated that it was the solidification of Mercury's metallic core that caused this global shrinkage. Mercury is also " . . . enriched in metal or depleted of rock " (Morrison, 74, 1993). It is also believed that some of the inner core of Mercury is still in a fluid state. Scientists also believe that Mercury's surface is made partially of silicate rock. The best way to describe Mercury is, " . . . small, heavily cratered and airless " (Morrison, 71, 1993). Venus is the second closest planet to the sun and is said to " . . . most closely resemble Earth in size, density, and distance from the sun " (Thompson/Turk, 542, 1993). Venus is known to most scientists as the sister planet to the Earth. It is called this because it closely resembles the Earth's mass, density and diameter. The only thing different is that Venus " is shrouded in thick clouds that completely hide the surface of the planet " (Grolier, 1992). The surface temperature is also much warmer than that of Earth. Venus completes one revolution around the sun in 224.7 days. This makes the Venusian day equal to 117 earth days. It is thought that this slow rotation may be the reason why Venus has no magnetic field. Planets 4 The atmosphere of Venus made up of 98% carbon dioxide and 2% Nitrogen. This atmosphere also has the presence of helium, neon and argon. This is yet another thing which makes Venus different from Earth. The surface of Venus is quite a bit like that of the Earth. The surface has volcanoes and smooth plains. " Much of the volcanic activity on Venus takes the form of Basaltic eruptions that inundate large ares, much as the mare volcanism flooded the impacted basins on the near side of the moon " (Morrison, 93, 1993). One thing that differs from Earth is that there is no water liquid on the Venusian surface. Some of the scientific data that follows was taken out of Cattermole's book. The mean distance from the sun is 108.20 Km. The equatorial diameter is 12,012 Km and the equatorial rotation is 243 days. Finally the mass of Venus is 4.87*10^24 (Cattermole, 63, 1993). Venus, although different than Earth, is still our sister planet.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Neptune Pluto, Scientists Mars, Uranus Hunt/Moore, Venus Earth, Earth Jupiters, Jupiter Saturn, Earth Venus, Earth's Saturn, Mars Earth, System Planets, solar system, grolier 1992, planets solar system, planets solar, venus earth, rotation period, earth mars, equatorial diameter, jupiter saturn, 1993 venus, mercury venus earth, planet sun, planet solar system, venus earth mars, earth mars jupiter,
Approximate Word count = 1803
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)