<P> Venusian craters range from 3 to 280 km (2 to 174 mi) in diameter . No craters are smaller than 3 km, because of the effects of the dense atmosphere on incoming objects . Objects with less than a certain kinetic energy are slowed down so much by the atmosphere that they do not create an impact crater . Incoming projectiles less than 50 m (160 ft) in diameter will fragment and burn up in the atmosphere before reaching the ground . </P> <P> Without seismic data or knowledge of its moment of inertia, little direct information is available about the internal structure and geochemistry of Venus . The similarity in size and density between Venus and Earth suggests they share a similar internal structure: a core, mantle, and crust . Like that of Earth, the Venusian core is at least partially liquid because the two planets have been cooling at about the same rate . The slightly smaller size of Venus means pressures are 24% lower in its deep interior than Earth's . The principal difference between the two planets is the lack of evidence for plate tectonics on Venus, possibly because its crust is too strong to subduct without water to make it less viscous . This results in reduced heat loss from the planet, preventing it from cooling and providing a likely explanation for its lack of an internally generated magnetic field . Instead, Venus may lose its internal heat in periodic major resurfacing events . </P> <P> Venus has an extremely dense atmosphere composed of 96.5% carbon dioxide, 3.5% nitrogen, and traces of other gases, most notably sulfur dioxide . The mass of its atmosphere is 93 times that of Earth's, whereas the pressure at its surface is about 92 times that at Earth's--a pressure equivalent to that at a depth of nearly 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) under Earth's oceans . The density at the surface is 65 kg / m, 6.5% that of water or 50 times as dense as Earth's atmosphere at 293 K (20 ° C; 68 ° F) at sea level . The CO 2 - rich atmosphere generates the strongest greenhouse effect in the Solar System, creating surface temperatures of at least 735 K (462 ° C; 864 ° F). This makes Venus's surface hotter than Mercury's, which has a minimum surface temperature of 53 K (− 220 ° C; − 364 ° F) and maximum surface temperature of 693 K (420 ° C; 788 ° F), even though Venus is nearly twice Mercury's distance from the Sun and thus receives only 25% of Mercury's solar irradiance . This temperature is higher than that used for sterilization . The surface of Venus is often said to resemble traditional accounts of Hell . </P> <P> Studies have suggested that billions of years ago Venus's atmosphere was much more like Earth's than it is now, and that there may have been substantial quantities of liquid water on the surface, but after a period of 600 million to several billion years, a runaway greenhouse effect was caused by the evaporation of that original water, which generated a critical level of greenhouse gases in its atmosphere . Although the surface conditions on Venus are no longer hospitable to any Earthlike life that may have formed before this event, there is speculation on the possibility that life exists in the upper cloud layers of Venus, 50 km (31 mi) up from the surface, where the temperature ranges between 303 and 353 K (30 and 80 ° C; 86 and 176 ° F) but the environment is acidic . </P>

Venus has a higher average surface temperature than mercury. why
find me the text answering this question