Question

The masses of the four heaviest planets in our solar system are given below. Determine the heaviest planet from the data below.

Jupiter -$1.899\times {10}^{27}\text{kg}$
Saturn - $5.685\times {10}^{26}\text{kg}$
Uranus - $8.682\times {10}^{25}\text{kg}$
Neptune - $1.024\times {10}^{26}\text{kg}$

• A. Jupiter
• B. Saturn
• C. Uranus
• D. Neptune

Answer 1

The correct option is A Jupiter

To compare the masses, fwe first need to convert all the masses into powers with same exponents.
Using $a^m\times a^n=a^{m+n},$ we have :

$\text{Mass of Jupiter}=1.899\times {10}^{27}\text{kg}$
$=189.9\times {10}^{-2}\times {10}^{27}\text{kg}$
$=189.9\times {10}^{25}\text{kg}$

$\text{Mass of Saturn}=5.685\times {10}^{26}\text{kg}$
$=56.85\times {10}^{-1}\times {10}^{26}\text{kg}$
$=56.85\times {10}^{25}\text{kg}$

$\text{Mass of Uranus}=8.682\times {10}^{25}\text{kg}$

$\text{Mass of Neptune}=1.024\times {10}^{26}\text{kg}$
$=10.24\times {10}^{-1}\times {10}^{26}\text{kg}$
$=10.24\times {10}^{25}\text{kg}$

We can clearly see the mass of Jupiter is more than that of rest of the planets. Hence, Jupiter is the heaviest planet in our solar system.