Download 2. Universe, Solar System and Earth`s formation

WHAT IS THE
CURRENT
SCIENTIFIC
THEORY FOR THE
FORMATION OF
THE SOLAR
SYSTEM?
HOW DID THE SOLAR SYSTEM FORM?
• Star formation occurs in our Galaxy.
• The Milky Way, is an Interstellar Cloud, known as Giant
Molecular Clouds.
• Solar Nebula (90% Hydrogen, 9% Helium) within Milky Way
• Solar Nebula, collapses in on center under
influence of gravity.
• Conservation of angular momentum,
causes faster spinning and flattening into
disk.
• Eventually greatest mass concentrated in center (Sun)
with a disk of rotating cold matter around it.
• Small dust particles and material ejected from
former stars collide and coalesce as they rotate.
• Form Planetisimals several 100 kilometers in
diameter.
•Gravitational pull of larger and larger Planetisimals
grows, increasing their mass, and their gravity.
•Creating Protoplanets consisting of random
collections of dust, rock and gas from various
origins.
•Collected cold and held together by gravity, with no
apparent order -“Cold Accretion Hypothesis.”
• Density and concentration of mass in Sun creates
sufficient temperature and pressure to generate
nuclear fusion and Sun starts to “burn” forging
Hydrogen to Helium, and other conversions. “Stellar
Workshops”.
• Generation of charged particles called Solar Wind.
Gaseous
Giants
Distant
Small
Rocky
SUN
Close
THE PLANETS
Gaseous
Giants:
Jupiter
Saturn
Neptune
Uranus
THE PLANETS
Gaseous
Giants:
Small
Rocky:
Jupiter
Saturn
Neptune
Uranus
Mercury
Venus
Earth
Mars
THE PLANETS
Gaseous
Giants:
Small
Rocky:
Recently
Relegated:
Jupiter
Saturn
Neptune
Uranus
Mercury
Venus
Earth
Mars
Pluto
HOW DID THE EARTH’S INTERIOR
BECOME ORGANIZED?
1. Cold Accretion.
Random
organization of
various chemical
elements.
“Cosmic Oh Henry bar”
HOW DID THE EARTH’S INTERIOR
BECOME ORGANIZED?
2. Internal source of energy: Energy
stored in composites from the time of the
“Big Bang”, internal friction and
radioactive decay. The larger the
protoplanet the more difficult it becomes
for energy to escape.
HOW DID THE EARTH’S INTERIOR
BECOME ORGANIZED?
3. External source of energy: Early in the
Earth’s history there is still plenty of
material in the path of the protoplanet’s
orbit, which is constantly being attracted
by the Earth’s gravity to the every
enlarging planet. Collisions of these
meteorites into the Earth’s surface are a
constant source of energy and melting.
Chicxulub
65m y
Barringer Meteor Crater, AZ
50,000 y
Shoemaker – Levy 9
20 y
HOW DID THE EARTH’S INTERIOR
BECOME ORGANIZED?
4. Internal separation by density: A slow process
that still continues to this day, moves the least
dense chemical constituents to the outside of
the Earth (“lighter material floats”), and densest
chemicals to the interior (“heavier materials
sink”).
Least dense
materials
Gradual increase
in densities of
materials. Density
gradient.
Most dense
materials