Formation of Solar System
~ 4.6 billion years ago huge cloud of gas and dust
started collapsing gravitationally
• As it collapsed it spun faster (conservation of
angular momentum)
- Think "figure skater"
• No (or little) spin in the perpendicular plane
• Local clusters of dust and gas condensed - protosun
formed first
• As material cooled, it condensed but never stopped
rotating (rotates still since there’s nothing to stop
it)
• Cores probably formed first, then attracted
neighboring materials to form: planetesimal,
protoplanet
• Probably not a unique system - there is increasing
evidence for the existence of many other planetary
systems
• Still an evolving theory
• All planets revoluve around the sun in the same
direction, but 3 have different directions of rotation
(relative to the rest and to the direction of solar
system motion) - Uranus, Venus, Pluto
The Terrestrial Planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, and
Mars
Relative Characteristics:
Planet Distance Period Radius Mass
Mercury 0.4 0.24 0.38 0.55
Venus 0.7 0.62 0.95 0.82
Earth 1 1 1 1
Mars 1.5 1.88 0.53 0.11
https://www.classzone.com/books/earth_science/terc/content/visualizations/es0401/es0401page01.cfm?chapter_no=visualization
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