The Solar System and Its

Origin

USC-TC
 General Properties of the Solar System

Large Scale

• The planets are isolated in orderly

intervals.
• Orbits are nearly circular.
• Orbits are on the same plane.
General Properties of the Solar System
Small Scale
terrestrial planets have
• high densities
• thin or no atmospheres
• rotate slowly
• rocky, poor in ices and H/He
•
Jovian planets have
• low densities
• thick atmospheres
• rotate rapidly
• many moons
• fluid interiors, rich in ice, H/He
The Encounter Hypothesis
 Important Features
(Encounter Hypothesis)

• Material, in the form of hot gas, is tidally stripped

from the Sun and the rogue star. This material
fragments into smaller lumps which form the planets.
• Explains why the planets revolves in the same
direction.
• Provides an explanation for why the inner planets
are denser than the outer planets.
 Flaws of the Encounter Hypothesis

• One is that hot gas expands, not contracts. So

lumps of hot gas would not form planets.

• The encounter between stars are extremely rare.

 The Nebular Theory

- The whole Solar System starts as a large

cloud of gas that contracts under self-gravity. A
disk form with a large concentration at the center
(the proto-Sun). Within the disk, planets formed.
 Important Features
(Nebular Theory)

• Self-gravity contracts a gas cloud.

• Disk begins to rotate.
• Central mass forms proto-sun.
• Centrifugal force balances gravitational
force and a ring forms.
• Ring forms into a planet.
 Stages of the Nebular Hypothesis
• Gas pressure
attempting to
expand the cloud.

• Gravitational force
attempting to
collapse the cloud.
The cloud collapses more rapidly as it rotates
because of conservation of angular momentum.
Rapid rotation formed a ring that later aggregated into
planets.
 Evidence of the Nebular Theory
• the orbits of the planets lie nearly on a plane
with the sun at the center.
• the planets all revolve in the same direction, and
the planets mostly rotate in the same direction
with rotation axes nearly perpendicular to the
orbital plane.
• the overall architecture of our Solar System is
orderly and the ages of its members uniform. All
indicators point to a single formation event
about 4.6 billion years ago.
 Flaws of the Nebular Theory
 99% of the Solar System's mass is in
the Sun, but 99% of its angular
momentum is in the planets.

 Another flaw is the mechanism from

which the disk turns into individual
planets.
The Sun and the Planets
 The Sun
Characteristics:
• nearest star to earth.
• surface is neither solid
nor gas but a glowing
plasma.
•nuclear reaction in the
interior generates its
energy.(Hydrogen nuclei
are being crushed together
to form helium).
• ultimate source of energy
on earth.
Characteristics:
Mercury
• orbits closest to the sun
than any other planets.
• hot, dry and virtually
airless.
• it is believed that the
interior is actually similar to
the earth’s, consisting
primarily of iron and other
heavy elements.
•Day time temperature
reaches 430° C
 Venus
Characteristics:
• Brightest planet.
• Hottest with a surface
temperature of 462° C.
• Greenhouse effect causes
the extreme temperature,
the planet’s thick clouds
and dense atmosphere
trapping energy from the
sun.
 Earth
Characteristics:
• with oxygen-rich
atmosphere.
• moderate temperature.
• abundant with liquid
water.
•Composed of rock and
metal.
• the only habitable planet.
 Mars
Characteristics:
•atmosphere is mostly
made up of carbon dioxide
(CO2), with small amounts
of nitrogen, oxygen, and
water vapour.
• Surface temperatures are
too cold and surface
pressures too low for water
to exist in a liquid state.
• resembles a cold, high-
altitude desert.
 Jupiter
Characteristics:
•the largest of the
planet.
• with a volume 1,400
times that of the earth.
• bands of color are
cloud belts, revealing
strong atmospheric
currents.
• with a volume 1,400
times that of the earth.
 Saturn
Characteristics:
• composed primarily of
hydrogen and helium.
• the rings are composed
of chunks of ice and
rocks.
• second among the
planets in size.
• has the lowest density.
 Uranus

Characteristics:
• blue-green color of
Uranus comes from the
methane gas present
in its cold, clear
atmosphere.
• a very cold place.
 Neptune

Characteristics:
• atmosphere is mainly
hydrogen and helium with
some methane and
ammonia.
•The red color shows
sunlight scattered from a
haze layer around the
planet, the blue/green
indicates methane, and the
white patches are clouds
high in the atmosphere.
 Quiz

For nos. 1 and 2 describe the following theory about

the origin of the Solar System.

1. The Encounter Hypothesis.

2. The Nebular Theory.
3. Why does the night time temperature of mercury
reaches negative temperature despite its being
the closest planet to the Sun?