Twelve questions, four choices each. Pick the answer you think is right and the quiz will tell you what you got — and why. No timer. No score limit. Each answer comes with a "want to know more" link to the page on this site that explains it in detail.
Ready? Tap an option to start.
How the Quiz Works
Each question is multiple choice. Pick an answer, and the quiz will tell you whether you got it right and explain why. After all 12 questions, you'll get a final score and links back to the pages on our site that explain each topic in more detail.
The questions cover everything in our Mercury hub: Mercury's size, its temperature, its weird day length, why it has no moons, the Caloris Basin, the missions that have visited it, and the surprising water ice at its poles.
If You Want to Study First
If you'd rather read up on Mercury before taking the quiz, the best place to start is our Mercury Facts for Kids overview. It covers all 12 topics the quiz draws from. Or jump to whichever topic interests you most:
- Why Mercury is so hot AND so cold
- Mercury vs Earth comparison
- The Caloris Basin and Mercury's surface
- A day on Mercury (the strangest one in the solar system)
- Mercury's wisp of an atmosphere
- Why Mercury has no moons
- All the missions to Mercury
- Water ice at Mercury's poles
- Weird and surprising Mercury facts
Frequently Asked Questions
How does this quiz work?
Pick an answer to each multiple-choice question. The quiz will tell you whether you got it right, explain why the correct answer is correct, and link to the page on our site that goes into more detail. There are 12 questions, no timer, and you can retake it as many times as you want.
Where do the quiz questions come from?
Every question is drawn from one of the pages in our Mercury hub. The 12 questions cover Mercury's size, its temperature, day and year length, atmosphere, moons, missions, the Caloris Basin, and water ice. If you've read the rest of the hub, you should be able to score perfectly.
What's the most surprising answer in the quiz?
Probably the one about which planet is the hottest. Most kids guess Mercury because it's closest to the Sun. The actual answer is Venus, because Venus has a thick atmosphere of carbon dioxide that traps heat like a greenhouse. Mercury's heat just leaks into space at night.
Can I take the quiz more than once?
Yes! When you finish, there's a 'Try again' button that resets the quiz. The questions stay the same each time, so you can use it to study or to test a friend.
Where can I learn more about Mercury after the quiz?
Each correct-answer explanation in the quiz includes a link to the page on this site that covers that topic in detail. You can also start from the Mercury Facts for Kids overview, which covers everything in summary.