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The internal structure of Mercury is assumed to be similar to that of the earth. A review of the astronomical data gives the mean radius as 2446 km and the mean density as 5.31 g/cm3. Mercury must thus have both a core and a mantle. An iterative procedure gives a core radius of 2112 km. The pressure, density, and gravity are calculated for a small mantle and core. Numerical integration of the equation of hydrostatic equilibrium yields 7.37 g/cm3 as the density and 0.327×1012 dynes/cm2 as the pressure at the center of the planet. From the structural model of Mercury the temperature distribution in the interior is calculated. Two extreme values of the temperature are calculated because of the uncertainty in the heat generation and thermal conductivity terms. The highest temperature (1380°K) occurs on the sunward side of Mercury at the core‐mantle boundary. This indicates that neither the core nor the mantle is molten. Certain geophysical and astronomical effects may arise because of the peculiar temperature distribution and the synchronous rotation of Mercury about the sun.

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