SOLAR NEBULA THEORY - The model constrained in the

formation of the solar system which includes the motions of

the planets, compositions and ages of the sun, planets, and
meteorites.

The word “nebula” is Latin for “cloud”

THEORIES OF THE ORIGIN OF SOLAR SYSTEM

1.Nebular Hypothesis - states that hydrogen and other

gases swirled around and condensed into our sun and its
planets.
2.Fission Theory - says that our sun burst one day, and all
our planets came from it.
3.Capture Theory – planets and moons were flying around,
and some were captured by our sun and began circling.
4. Accretion Theory - a pile of space dust and rock chunks
pushed together into our planet, and another pile pushed
itself into our moon.
5. Planetary Collision Theory – our world collided with
small planet, and the explosion threw off rocks which
became the moon, and then it began orbiting us.
6. Stellar Collision Theory – our planets, moons, and suns
span off from the collision between stars.
7. Gas Cloud Theory - gas clouds were captured by our sun
but instead of being drawn into it, they began whirling and
pushing themselves into planets and moons.

TWO TYPES OF PLANETS

Terrestrial planets are composed of: rock, metals, with high
densities, slow in rotation, with weak magnetic field,
absence of rings.
Jovian planets are composed of: gases, with low densities,
fast in rotation, have strong magnetic field, has many rings.

Terrestrial planet
Mercury - The smallest terrestrial planet. It has a thin
atmosphere.

Venus - The smallest terrestrial planet - It has a thin

atmosphere. Much of the planet's surface is marked with
volcanoes and deep canyons.

Earth - The Blue Planet. The only one planet with extensive
regions of liquid water.

Mars - The Red Planet. Has two small moons, Phobos (fear)
and Deimos (panic)

Jovian Planets
Jupiter - The largest Planet. Jupiter is 11 times larger than
Earth in diameter.

Galilean MOONS/satellites
The first four moons discovered beyond Earth—the Galilean
satellites.
EUROPA is a salty-water ocean thought to contain twice as
much water as Earth’s oceans combined.

IO is the most volcanically active Moon in the Solar System.

CALLISTO is Jupiter’s second largest moon and the third

largest moon in our solar system.

GANYMEDE is the largest moon in our solar system and the

only moon with its own magnetic field.

The Great Red Spot - The counterclockwise-moving storm

larger than the Earth and powerful enough to tear apart
smaller storms that get drawn into

Saturn - Bright rings are the most visible and well known.
2nd largest moon named Titan, even has its own
atmosphere, which is very unusual for a moon.

Uranus - Methane gas in the atmosphere gives the planet

its blue-green color.

Neptune - The clouds in Neptune’s atmosphere are made

up of methane ice crystals that gives it color pink.

SUN—the heart of our solar system—is a yellow dwarf star,

a hot ball of glowing gases.
- Contains 99.85% of all the matter in the Solar System.

Regions of the Sun

The Photosphere occupies the interior surface and includes

the special features like sunspot, granulation, faculae, and
pores.

The Chromosphere is the middle layer and includes the

special features like prominences and flares.

The Atmosphere or corona is the outermost layer and its

interesting feature is the coronal hole.

Meteor: Its composition is rocky; however, its size is small.

Also known as shooting stars.

Comet: Its composition is a sphere of frozen gases and dust.

These are cosmic snowballs of frozen gases, rock and dust
that orbit the Sun.

Halley's Comet is arguably the most famous comet. It is a

"periodic" comet and returns to Earth's vicinity about every
75 years.

ASTRONOMY - A natural science of celestial body, such as stars,

galaxies, planets, moons, asteroids, comets and nebulae, and
processes, the physics, chemistry, and evolution of such objects
and all phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of the
Earth.

The Four Spheres of the Earth

The term “Earth system" refers to Earth´s interacting physical,

chemical, and biological processes.

The geosphere is considered that portion of the Earth system that

includes the Earth's interior, rocks and minerals, land forms and
the processes that shape the Earth's surface.

The hydrosphere - is the liquid water component of the earth

which circulates among oceans, continents, glaciers, and the
atmosphere.

The ocean makes up the 71 percent of Earth and contains 97.5

percent of water.

The Earth ‘s atmosphere is made up of nitrogen, oxygen, and

smaller amounts of argon, carbon dioxide, and other gases. It has
four vertical layers.

The atmosphere is an important part of what makes Earth livable.

The atmosphere is a mixture of nitrogen (78%), oxygen (21%),
and other gases (1%) that surrounds Earth.

The biosphere is the part that life inhabits. It produces the

succession of life- forms needed to keep the planet habitable.
This is the combination of interacting components that form a
complex whole.

Within the biosphere, living things form ecological communities

based on the physical surroundings of an area. These
communities are referred to as biomes.

The Big Bang Theory

Many scientists considered this theory to be the most

scientifically correct explanation of how the universe was
generated through a ―Big Bang.
The Big Bang Hypothesis states that all current and past matter in
the universe came into existence at the same time about thirteen
point eight billion years ago. All matters were compacted into a
very small ball with infinite density and intense heat known as
Singularity. About 15 billion years ago, a cataclysmic explosion
occurred, hurling the material in all directions. The big bang marks
the inception of the universe; all matter and space were created
at that instant. The ejected masses of gas cooled and condensed,
forming the stars that compose the galactic systems we now
observe fleeing from their birthplace. However, there are
scientists who claims that the Big Bang Theory is not an actual
explosion but rather an expansion.

Three Branches of Astronomy:

1. Astrophysics is a branch of astronomy that studies the physical
nature of stars and other celestial bodies.

2. Celestial Mechanics deals with the calculation of the motions of

celestial objects such as planets.
3. Cosmology deals with the study of the origin and development
of the universe.

Telescope

A telescope is an optical instrument that helps magnifies distant

object. It also collects and focuses light and other forms of
electromagnetic radiation.

Types of Telescope

Refracting telescope this was invented by Galileo. It provides view

by looking through a lens or series of lenses that focus on one
eyepiece.

Reflecting Telescope this was invented by Sir Isaac Newton. It

provides view by focusing light through a concave mirror.

Minerals: The Building Blocks of Rocks

A mineral is a solid matter possessing a definite chemical

structure that occur naturally but does not have life. It is
commonly found in rocks. Some rocks are composed of two or
more minerals. The building blocks of minerals which is made up
of an atom is called element. Each atom has a nucleus containing
protons and neutrons. Orbiting the nucleus of an atom are
electrons. The number of protons in an atom's nucleus
determines its atomic number and the name of the element.
Minerals are the building blocks of rocks; solid matter possessing
a definite chemical structure that occur naturally but does not
have life.

Elements - building blocks of minerals.

Substance (Mineral) must meet five requirements:
1. naturally occurring
2. inorganic
3. solid
4. definite chemical composition
5. ordered internal structure

Properties of Minerals
1. Crystal Form growth pattern of crystals of mineral determined
by the environment.

2. Luster amount of light reflected by the surface of the mineral.

Types of Luster

1. Metallic - opaque and reflective

2. Non-metallic – dull

Submetallic minerals that has somewhat metallic in luster

3. Color visual perception of color of the mineral.
Types of Color

a. Idiochromatic – self colored

b. Allochromatic – other colored
c. Pseudochromatic – false colored
4. Streak color of the mineral in its pure powdered form; reliable
indication of color.

5. Hardness degree of how hard the mineral can be scratched.

Mohs scale refer to standard hardness

Diamond – hardest; 10 on scale, Talc softest; 1 on scale

6. Cleavage splitting of crystals along a smooth surface.

7. Fracture minerals splits away from its axis; splits in a direction

possessing difficult indistinct cleavage

Types of Fracture

Conchoidal fracture results in a series of smoothly curved

concentric rings about the stressed point, generating a shell-like
appearance

Irregular fracture results in a rugged or rough surface.

8. Specific Gravity ratio of the weight of a mineral to weight of an

equal of water.

Mineral Groups
Silicate contain Si2O3; minerals have the silicon-oxygen
tetrahedron as their fundamental building block.
Non-Silicate do not contain Si; minerals are without silicon
Ore rock contains useful metallic minerals-hematite (mined for
iron); galena (mined for lead), mined for a profit, some
nonmetallic minerals-fluorite and sulfur.

Igneous Rock
Three types of magma

a. Basaltic low silica content, low viscosity, and gases escape

easily.
b. Andesitic medium level of silica content, intermediate
viscosity, and cause intermediate explosion.
c. Rhyolitic high silica content, high viscosity, and cause explosive
eruption.

Igneous Rocks Composition of Magma and Lava

Magma mixture of molten rocks and elements-Si, O, Al, Fe, Ca,

Na, K, Mg, etc.
-less dense than surrounding rocks; works its way towards the
surface, producing volcanic eruptions

Lava erupted molten magma; solidifies forming rocks

 Extrusive rocks on surface of the earth

 Intrusive rocks formed inside the earth
Rate of Cooling to Crystal Size

Slow – Large crystals

Fast – Microscopic crystals
Very fast – Glass

Classification is based on the Rock’s Texture and Mineral

Constituents

Texture

a. Fine grained (Rhyolite) – formed at the surface, small masses

within the upper crust, small crystals.
b. Coarse grained (Granite) – formed below the surface.
c. Porphyritic (Andesite porphyry) – large crystals embed in a
matrix of smaller crystals
d. Glassy (Obsidian, Pumice) – result from rapid cooling (being
Quenched).

2. Sedimentary Rocks
Sources of Materials as sediments:
Detritus – detrital sedimentary rocks-solid particles from
weathered rocks

Chemical sedimentary rocks-soluble material from chemical

weathering
Sedimentary Rocks Compacted and Cemented Sediment
Form from sediment or weathered product also known as
sedimentum or settling.

It contains fossils, coal, and source of electrical power

3. Metamorphic Rock

Two Types of Metamorphism:

Contact Metamorphism – formed when magma intrudes into

existing rock - changes are minor.

Regional Metamorphism – formed during mountain building

process that occurs over a large are - major changes to rocks.

Classification of Metamorphic Rocks

TEXTURE
Foliated Texture – formed when recrystallize at right angles
to the direction of force. (E.g. slate, schist, and gneiss)

Nonfoliated Texture – no banded texture and resembles a

course-grained igneous rock. (E.g. marble and quartize)

Rock Cycle
Magma - volatiles and solid materials that is found beneath
the surface of the Earth.

Crystallization –is a chemical solid –liquid separation

technique in which mass transfer occurs from the liquid
solution to a pure solid crystalline phase.

Weathering – breaking down of rocks at the earth’s surface.

Sediments – particles and dissolved substances

Lithification – compaction of converting sediments to solid

rocks.