UNIVERSE AND THE

SOLAR SYSTEM
EARTH AND LIFE SCIENCE
 DESCRIBE THE DIFFERENT
OBJECTIVE HYPOTHESES EXPLAINING THE
S: ORIGIN OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM.
 NON-SCIENTIFIC THOUGHT
• ANCIENT EGYPTIANS BELIEVED IN MANY
GODS AND MYTHS WHICH NARRATE THAT
THE WORLD AROSE FROM AN INFINITE
SEA AT THE FIRST RISING OF THE SUN.

REVIEW/
MOTIVATION • THE KUBA PEOPLE OF CENTRAL AFRICA
TELL THE STORY OF A CREATOR GOD
MBOMBO (OR BUMBA) WHO, ALONE IN A
DARK AND WATER-COVERED EARTH, FELT
AN INTENSE STOMACH PAIN AND THEN
VOMITED THE STARS, SUN, AND MOON.
• IN INDIA, THERE IS THE NARRATIVE THAT GODS
SACRIFICED PURUSHA, THE PRIMAL MAN WHOSE
HEAD, FEET, EYES, AND MIND BECAME THE SKY,
EARTH, SUN, AND MOON RESPECTIVELY.

• THE MONOTHEISTIC RELIGIONS OF JUDAISM,

CHRISTIANITY, AND ISLAM CLAIM THAT A SUPREME
BEING CREATED THE UNIVERSE, INCLUDING MAN
AND OTHER LIVING ORGANISMS.

NOTE: UNLIKE HYPOTHESES IN THE SCIENCES, RELIGIOUS

BELIEFS CANNOT BE SUBJECTED TO TESTS USING THE
SCIENTIFIC METHOD. FOR THIS REASON, THEY CANNOT BE
CONSIDERED VALID TOPIC OF SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY.
Lego bricks and Minecraft blocks allow us to build different structures by simply
combining together or removing pieces.
 Like Lego bricks and
Minecraft blocks, some
theories that explain the
origin of the universe use
the same concept of
combining and breaking
off celestial materials.
 How did the
combination of
cosmic materials and
breaking apart of a
star form the solar
system?
• THE SOLAR SYSTEM IS LOCATED IN
THE MILKY WAY GALAXY - A HUGE
DISC- AND SPIRAL-SHAPED
AGGREGATION OF ABOUT AT LEAST
100 BILLION STARS AND OTHER
BODIES
• ITS SPIRAL ARMS ROTATE AROUND A
GLOBULAR CLUSTER OR BULGE OF
MANY, MANY STARS, AT THE CENTER
OF WHICH LIES A SUPER MASSIVE
BLACK HOLE;
• THIS GALAXY IS ABOUT 100 MILLION
LIGHT YEARS ACROSS (1 LIGHT YEAR
= 9.4607 × 1012 KM;
• THE SOLAR SYSTEM REVOLVES SOLAR SYSTEM
AROUND THE GALACTIC CENTER
• THE MILKY WAY IS
PART OF THE SO-
CALLED LOCAL GROUP
OF GALAXIES, WHICH
IN TURN IS PART OF THE
VIRGO SUPER CLUSTER
OF GALAXIES;
 DIFFERENT HYPOTHESES ON THE
ORIGIN OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM

1. NEBULAR HYPOTHESIS

A NEBULA IS DEFINED BY NASA AS GIANT

CLOUD OF GAS AND DUST IN SPACE.

THIS INTERSTELLAR CLOUD OF DUST

CONTAINS HYDROGEN, HELIUM AND
OTHER IONIZED GASES.

Dusty discs surrounding nearby

young stars
PROPONENTS OF THE NEBULAR THEORY

Emmanuel Immanuel Pierre-Simon

Swedenborg Kant Laplace
(1688–1772) (1724–1804) (1749–1827)
 MAJOR STEPS IN THE FORMATION OF THE
SOLAR SYSTEM
THE FORMATION OF THE
SOLAR SYSTEM FROM A
NEBULA OCCURS IN THREE
MAJOR STEPS:
(1) CLOUD COLLAPSE,
(2) FORMATION OF
PROTOPLANETARY
DISK,
AND The Solar System
(3) GROWTH OF PLANETS.
 STEP 1: CLOUD COLLAPSE
• HYPOTHETICALLY, A SHOCKWAVE FROM A SUPERNOVA OR THE
EFFECT OF A PASSING STAR MAY CAUSE A CLOUD COLLAPSE.

• THE COLLAPSE AT THE CENTER OF THE CLOUD DUE TO GRAVITY

OCCURS WHEN GAS PRESSURE BECOMES INSUFFICIENT TO
SUPPORT THE MASS OF THE CLOUD.

• THE COLLAPSED CLOUD OF INTERSTELLAR GAS AND DUST

RESULTS TO A SMALLER RADIUS THAT SPINS FASTER.
COLLAPSING OF THE CLOUD MAKES IT SPIN
FASTER.

Cloud Collapse
STEP 2: FORMATION OF PROTOPLANETARY
DISK
 STEP 2: FORMATION OF PROTOPLANETARY
DISK
METALS AND SILICATES COULD
EXIST NEAR THE SUN BECAUSE
THESE COMPOUNDS HAVE
HIGHER BOILING POINTS.

AS A RESULT, TERRESTRIAL
PLANETS WERE EVENTUALLY
FORMED CONTAINING HIGH Terrestrial planets. From left to right: Mercury,
CONCENTRATION OF THESE Venus, Earth, and Mars; the last one on the right is
COMPOUNDS. Ceres, the terrestrial dwarf planet
 STEP 2: FORMATION OF PROTOPLANETARY
DISK
• THE TERRESTRIAL PLANETS COULD NOT GROW IN HUGE DIAMETER
BECAUSE OF THE LIMITED RESERVE OF METALLIC ELEMENTS IN THE
SOLAR NEBULA.

Terrestrial planets. From left to right: Mercury,

Venus, Earth, and Mars; the last one on the right is
Ceres, the terrestrial dwarf planet
 STEP 3: GROWTH OF PLANETS
DUST AND GRAINS
SURROUNDING THE SUN
EVENTUALLY FORMED CLUMPS.
THESE CLUMPS THEN
ACCRETED FORMING
PLANETESIMALS.

PLANETESIMAL IS A SMALL
CELESTIAL BODY THAT ONCE
COLLIDE TOGETHER. IT TEND
TO FUSE TO FORM THE PLANETS
OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM.
STEP 3: GROWTH OF PLANETS

Growth of planets in the nebular theory.

 • PARTICLES SURROUNDING SATURN REPEL
EACH OTHER, WHICH IS CONTRARY TO
THE ASSUMPTION THAT DUST PARTICLES
WILL BE ATTACHED TO EACH OTHER
DRAWBAC FORMING A PLANET.
KS OF THE
NEBULAR • IT DID NOT CONSIDER URANUS AND
VENUS WHICH ROTATES IN A
THEORY CLOCKWISE DIRECTION WHILE OTHER
PLANETS ROTATES IN A
COUNTERCLOCKWISE DIRECTION.
 ACTIVITY: 1WHOLE SHEET OF PAPER

IN YOUR OWN UNDERSTANDING ABOUT NEBULAR

HYPOTHESIS, ILLUSTRATE/DRAW THE FORMATION OF
PLANETS IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM. GIVE 3-4 SENTENCES TO
SUPPORT YOUR ILLUSTRATION.
 QUESTIONS:

• HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH YOUR ILLUSTRATION?

• DO YOU SUPPORT THE NEBULAR HYPOTHESIS DESPITE OF
THE DRAWBACKS PRESENTED? WHY OR WHY NOT?
 ASSIGNMENT: ½ CROSSWISE

RESEARCH ABOUT ENCOUNTER HYPOTHESIS

AND COMPARE IT TO NEBULAR HYPOTHESES.
ENCOUNTER
HYPOTHESIS
UNIVERSE AND THE SOLAR SYSTEM
 ENCOUNTER HYPOTHESES:
• THE ENCOUNTER THEORY
PROPOSES THAT THE PLANETS
WERE FORMED FROM THE
MATERIAL EJECTED FROM
THE SUN DURING AN
ENCOUNTER WITH ANOTHER
CELESTIAL OBJECT, SUCH AS
ANOTHER STAR.

• TWO FORMS: PLANETESIMAL

AND TIDAL THEORIES
 PLANETESIMAL Theory
• IT PROPOSES THAT A PASSING STAR TERMED AS
INTRUDING STAR NEARLY COLLIDED WITH THE
PROTOSUN.

• THE MASSIVE GRAVITATIONAL PULL OF THE

INTRUDING STAR CAUSES THE PROTOSUN TO EJECT
FILAMENTS OF MATERIAL WHICH THEN CONDENSED
INTO PLANETESIMALS.

• THIS THEORY DESCRIBES HOW EARTH STARTED FROM

A SOLID MASS SMALLER THAN ITS PRESENT SIZE.
 PROPONENTS OF THE PLANETESIMAL THEORY
● THOMAS CHROWDER
CHAMBERLIN PROPOSED THAT
ACCRETION OF MINUTE SOLID
PARTICLES CREATED PLANETS AND
THEIR MOONS RATHER THAN BY
GASEOUS OR LIQUID MATERIAL
Thomas Chrowder Forest Ray
CONDENSATION. Chamberlin Moulton
• FOREST RAY MOULTON
PROVIDED THE MATHEMATICAL
CALCULATIONS TO
CHAMBERLIN’S IDEA.

Thomas Chrowder Forest Ray

Chamberlin Moulton
 • PLANETESIMAL THEORY IS NO LONGER
ACCEPTED TODAY DUE TO THE FACT THAT
DRAWBACK
HOT MATERIAL FROM THE SUN EXPANDS AND
S OF THE DISSIPATES RATHER THAN CONTRACT.
PLANETESI
MAL • IN ADDITION, THE FORCE FROM THE PASSING
THEORY STAR WILL PULL DUST AND GASES FAR AWAY
FROM THE SUN, THAT THEY WOULD NOT BE
ABLE TO FORM THE PLANETS IN THE SOLAR
SYSTEM.
 TIDAL THEORY
• IT EXPLAINS THAT THE SOLAR SYSTEM FORMED AS A RESULT OF A NEAR
COLLISION BETWEEN A PASSING STAR AND THE SUN.
• THIS THEORY PROPOSES THAT THE HOT GAS FROM THE PASSING STAR
CONDENSED INTO PLANETS INSTEAD OF CONDENSING INTO
PLANETESIMALS.

The lengthy tidal tails of the

colliding antennae galaxies
 PROPONENTS OF THE TIDAL THEORY
● THE TIDAL THEORY WAS
PROPOSED BY:

○ JAMES JEANS, AN ENGLISH

PHYSICIST AND ASTRONOMER,
AND
○ HAROLD JEFFREYS, AN
ENGLISH MATHEMATICIAN AND
ASTRONOMER IN 1918.
Sir James Jeans
 DRAWBACKS OF THE TIDAL THEORY

One problem of the tidal

theory is that the hot material
from either star cannot
contract.

Thus, planets will not form.

Stars collision
 PROTO PLANET HYPOTHESES - CURRENT
HYPOTHESIS
• ABOUT 4.6 BILLION YEARS AGO, IN THE ORION ARM OF THE
MILKY WAY GALAXY, A SLOWLY-ROTATING GAS AND DUST
CLOUD DOMINATED BY HYDROGEN AND HELIUM STARTS TO
CONTRACT DUE TO GRAVITY.

• AS MOST OF THE MASS MOVE TO THE CENTER TO EVENTUALLY

BECOME A PROTO-SUN, THE REMAINING MATERIALS FORM A DISC
THAT WILL EVENTUALLY BECOME THE PLANETS AND
MOMENTUM IS TRANSFERRED OUTWARDS.
CARTOON SHOWING THE ORIGIN OF THE
SOLAR SYSTEM
Due to collisions, fragments of dust
and solid matter begin sticking to
each other to form larger and larger
bodies from meter to kilometer in
size. These proto-planets are
accretions of frozen water, ammonia,
methane, silicon, aluminum, iron,
and other metals in rock and mineral
grains enveloped in hydrogen and
helium.
 CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING:

Differentiate
encounter hypothesis In your own
from protoplanet understanding, which
hypothesis explaining theory is more valid
the origin of solar and acceptable today?
system.
 ● NEBULAR THEORY
PROPOSES THAT STARS ORIGINATE FROM
INTERSTELLAR GAS AND DUST CALLED NEBULA
(CLOUD) AND IS CREDITED TO SWEDENBORG, KANT,
AND LAPLACE.
● THREE MAJOR STEPS IN NEBULAR THEORY INCLUDE
○ CLOUD COLLAPSE: THE ORIGIN OF THE PLANETS
KEY AND SUN IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM IS A HUGE CLOUD

POINTS: OF MOLECULAR GAS AND DUST THAT COLLAPSED.

○ FORMATION OF THE PROTOPLANETARY DISK:
MATERIALS FROM THE COLLAPSED CLOUD FALL
INWARD AND FLATTEN INTO A DISK.
○ GROWTH OF PLANETS: DUST AND GRAINS
SURROUNDING THE DISK COLLIDE AND FORM
PLANETESIMALS THAT COLLECT INTO A PLANET.
 ● ENCOUNTER THEORY
PROPOSES THAT THE PLANETS FORMED FROM THE
MATERIAL EJECTED FROM THE SUN DURING AN
ENCOUNTER WITH ANOTHER CELESTIAL OBJECT.

● PLANETESIMAL THEORY
IS A FORM OF ENCOUNTER THEORY THAT DESCRIBES
KEY EARTH STARTED FROM A SOLID MASS SMALLER THAN ITS
PRESENT SIZE PROPOSED BY CHAMBERLIN AND
POINTS: MOULTON.

● TIDAL THEORY
IS A FORM OF ENCOUNTER THEORY WHICH STATES THE
HOT GAS FROM THE PASSING STAR CONDENSED INTO
PLANETS INSTEAD OF CONDENSING INTO PLANETESIMALS
PROPOSED BY JEANS AND JEFFREYS.
•END