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How thick are Saturn's rings from top to bottom?

A) a few million kilometers
B) a few tens of thousands of kilometers
C) a few hundred kilometers
D) a few kilometers
E) a few tens of meters.

1 Answer

3 votes

Final answer:

Saturn's rings have an average thickness of only 20 meters despite spanning a width of approximately 70,000 kilometers. The rings are mainly composed of water ice particles, ranging in size from grains of sand to house-sized boulders. Saturn also has narrow rings, like the F Ring, which are less than 100 kilometers wide.

Step-by-step explanation:

The thickness of Saturn's rings from top to bottom is surprisingly thin considering their extensive breadth. While the main rings span a substantial width of 70,000 kilometers, their average thickness is a mere 20 meters. This remarkable scale means that if you were to create a scale model of Saturn's rings out of paper with the width of just 1 kilometer, real Saturn would be the equivalent height of an 80-story building. The rings themselves are composed of particles primarily made of water ice, varying from tiny grains akin to sand up to substantial boulders the size of a house.

Among Saturn's diverse rings, which include the broad A, B, and C Rings, are also very narrow ones, such as the F Ring, that are no more than 100 kilometers wide. The F Ring is notable for its complex structure and is situated just outside of the A Ring. These narrower rings bear similarity to those found around Uranus and Neptune.

User Laurent Perrin
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