The planets closest to the Sun are the inner, or terrestrial, planets and are similar to Earth in some ways. They are rocky and
dense, have few moons, no rings, and are relatively small. These planets also differ in many ways, as shown in the chart. For example, Venus is the hottest planet on the chart, even though Mercury is closer to the Sun. The temperature difference between Venus and Earth is significantly greater than the difference between Venus and Mercury, even though Venus lies close to midway between those two planets. Which statement elaborates on the cause of this wide range of temperatures between terrestrial planets?
All of the terrestrial planets have atmospheres, but all them differ in their composition and density too. Venus has the highest temperature of the terrestrial planets, higher even then Mercury despite being closer to the Sun, because it has very dense atmosphere. Also, the key moment with the dense atmosphere of Venus is that it is mostly composed of carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide is a gas that has the ability to trap the solar radiation into the atmosphere, so the more there is from this gas, the hotter it will be, and Venus has exactly that.
