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ASTRONOMY
Maj-Sci 100 (TERM 3: SEd-1-1-13)
Summer 2022

Module 2
SOLAR SYSTEM

Name: Haina Boniene M. Napuli Year & Section: BSED Science 301 Score:

Testing Your Understanding

Essay. Direction: Answer the question briefly. Write your answers below.
1. Describe the different ways by which stellar astronomers and planetary scientists each came
to the same conclusion about how planetary systems form.

According to Rene Descartes, the sun and planets were created when a
massive vortex shrank and condensed. An alternative theory put forth by Georges
Louis de Buffon (1707-1788) claimed that the planets were formed when a comet
went by and drew material from the sun. Then it was changed, in accordance with the
new theory, stuff ripped from the sun and the other star condensed to create the
planets, which were then propelled into orbits around the sun by the motion of the
two stars' 'collision'.
Pierre-Simon de Laplace, who combined Descartes's idea of a vortex with
Newton's laws of motion and gravity to create a model of a rotating cloud of matter
that contracted under its own gravitation and flattened into a disk, is credited with
being the inventor of the modern theory of the origin of the solar system. This model
is known as the nebular hypothesis. The sun should be spinning very quickly, or, to
put it another way, it should possess the majority of the solar system's angular
momentum, according to the nebular theory.
The solar nebula theory, which contends that planets, including Earth, formed
in a spinning disk of gas and dust that enveloped the sun as it formed, is a
contemporary explanation for the creation of the planets. It can be said that this
evolutionary hypothesis has "graduated" from being just a hypothesis to being
appropriately referred to as a theory because it is so extensive and adequately
explains numerous observations, both of our solar system and of other systems. The
specifics of that theory are still being worked out by astronomers.

2. How can meteors come from comets, but meteorites come from asteroids?

Asteroids and comets both produced meteors. One of the small, icy entities
that frequently orbits the sun and leaves behind a tail of gas and dust when it gets
close to the sun is a comet. Asteroids are ancient planetesimals that are made of stony
or metallic material and have endured planetary accretion. A small fragment of an
asteroid or comet, known as a meteoroid, now burns up as it enters the Earth's
atmosphere and becomes a meteor. A tiny cometary or asteroidal debris is known as
 a meteoroid. When a meteroid enters a planet's atmosphere, it produces a meteor. A
meteor is a small piece of matter that is heated by friction to incandescent vapor as it
falls into Earth's atmosphere. A meteorite is a meteoroid that makes it to the surface
of a planet. Many meteoroids are comet or asteroid fragments.

3. Why were the four giant planets able to collect massive gaseous atmospheres, whereas the
terrestrial planets could not? Explain the source of the atmospheres now surrounding three
of the terrestrial planets.

Massive planets can produce a miniature accretion disk on a tiny scale due to
their enormous gravitational fields. Small planets' gravitational fields might not be
strong enough to contain the re-emission into space of less massive atoms and
molecules, such hydrogen and helium. A technique known as core accretion-gas
capture was also used by the four big planets to direct enormous volumes of gas onto
planetesimals that had become very large due to the accretion of frozen volatiles.
Because there aren't enough volatiles in the inner Solar System, the inner planets
cannot use this mechanism. As a result, although the inner planets are too small to
retain their primordial atmospheres, the outer planets are huge enough to do so. In
order to create a secondary atmosphere, the inner planets must release substances
like carbon dioxide and nitrogen inside. A planet's ability to gather and retain the
hydrogen and helium gases that make up the majority of the disk is greatly aided by
its enormous mass. One significant source of the planets' secondary atmospheres may
be the gases that volcanoes discharge from the interior of the inner planets. A large
source of water, organic compounds, and other volatile materials may also be found
on planets close to the central star as a result of some volatile-rich comets that
occasionally impact with these planets.

4. Why do we find rocky material everywhere in the Solar System, but large amounts of volatile
material only in the outer regions?

Refractory materials, such as rocks, solidify at relatively high temperatures.

These refractory materials could form solids anywhere in the early solar nebula,
including the hot region near the protosun. As solids, they could participate in the
process of planet formation. Volatile materials only solidify at extremely cold
temperatures, such as those found in the solar nebula's outer regions. Only there
could they participate in the accretion process. Another reason for the separation of
these materials is that the protosun went through an unstable phase known as its T-
Tauri phase, during which it erupted and blew the volatile material out of the solar
nebula's interior. Because the interior portions of the solar system were warmer and
couldn't hang on to gaseous volatiles when the solar system was cooler earlier, we
only find significant concentrations of volatile material in the outer regions of the
solar system. The outer region, on the other hand, was farther from the sun and
offered a colder environment for the existence of these volatile compounds.
5. In a Venn compare and contrast terrestrial and Jovian planets.

TERRESTRIAL PLANETS JOVIAN PLANETS

 Outer part of the

 Inner part of the
solar system, very
solar system, close
far to sun
to sun
 Large
 Small  All planets
 Massive
 Non-massive  All revolves
 Less dense
 Dense around the sun
 Mostly gaseous,
 Solid, with iron  All rotate on its
with solid cores
cores axis
 Primarily contains
 Contains Heavy  Came from the
Hydrogen and
Elements same nebula
Helium
 Thin atmosphere according to the
 Deep and thick
 Warmer Nebula Theory
atmosphere
Temperature
 colder
 Slow rotation
Temperature
 Have few satellites
 Fast rotation
or none
 Have many
 No ring system
satellites
 Short/Faster Orbit
 Has ring system
 Has solid surfaces
 long/slow Orbit
 Has no solid
surfaces