What differences and similarities are there between the 8 major planets of our solar system?

Answer 1

Similarities between all 8 major planets

1. all orbit the sun
2. all are in hydrostatic equilibrium (generally sphere-shaped)
3. all have cleared their neighborhoods of debris (their paths around the sun contain no other large objects, other than the planet's own moons).

Differences

All 8 planets have their unique features, and there are too many to list. Here is a list of a single unique characteristic of each planet:

1. Mercury - smallest major planet in our solar system
   
2. Venus - hottest major planet
   
3. Earth - only major planet with life as far as we know; only planet covered mostly with water
   
4. Mars - only planet with a thin atmosphere composed primarily of carbon dioxide
   
5. Jupiter - largest planet
   
6. Saturn - least dense planet
   
7. Uranus - tilted so far that it essentially orbits the sun on its side, with its pole pointing at the sun
   
8. Neptune - the only major planet that was NOT known to ancient people.