Formation of Planets and Stars
- Gravity
- Theories on the formation
of planets and starts
Lesson Objectives
- Describe how planets form from
dust and gas, which are pulled
together by gravity.
- Explain how gravity keeps the
planets on their orbit.
Essential Question
■ Howdoes gravity affect
the earth and the whole
solar system?
The Solar System • 1 star
• 8 planets
• several dwarf planets
• many moons
• asteroids, comets,
meteoroids
Solar System Jeopardy
■ Let's recall what we knew about our solar
system.
3 groups
https://jeopardylabs.com/play/7th-grade-solar-
system-review
The Origin of the
Solar System
Formation of the Solar System
Any theory to describe the formation of our
Solar System must be consistent with these
facts:
1. Each planet is isolated in space.
2. The orbits are nearly circular.
3. The orbits of the planets all lie in roughly the same plane
4. The direction the planets orbit around the Sun is the same as
the Sun’s rotation on its axis.
5. The direction most planets orbit on their axes is the same as
that for the Sun.
6. The direction of the planetary moons orbits is the same as that
of the planet’s rotation.
7. The terrestrial planets are very different from the Jovian
planets.
8. Asteroids are different from both types of planets.
9. Comets are icy fragments that don’t orbit in the ecliptic plane.
Solar Nebula
https://www.youtube.co
m/watch?v=sCkhEu3lY
Nc
Solar Nebula Theory
Continued
■ About 4.5 billion years ago it is believed that the
Solar System consisted of a large cloud of gas and
dust, called a nebula.
■ This cloud started rotating, and the dust particles
combined to form planetesimals. As the cloud
rotated faster, it flattened, and the planetesimals
formed- Eventually forming planets.
■ Initial composition:
-98% hydrogen and helium
-2% (carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, silicon, iron)
The Solar Nebula
Hypothesis
Basis of modern theory
of planet formation.
Planets form at the
same time from the
same cloud as the star.
Planet formation sites
observed today as dust
disks of T Tauri stars.
Sun and our solar system
formed ~ 5 billion years ago.
Nebular Theory for Solar System formation
Our Sun and the planets began from a cloud of dust and gas
(nebula)
As the cloud contracts under its
own gravity, the Sun is formed
at the center.
The cloud starts to spin and the
smaller it contracts, the faster it
spins.
The cloud forms a flattened,
pancake shape.
Formation of the Solar System
Condensation Theory for Planet Formation
The gas in the flattened nebula would never
eventually clump together to form planets.
Interstellar dust (grain-size particles) lies between
stars - remnants of old, dead stars.
These dust grains
form condensation
nuclei - other atoms
attach to them to start
the “collapsing”
process to form the
planets in the gas
cloud.
Planet Formation -
Accretion
■ Accretion
1.Condensed grains from nebula collide and
stick to form planetesimals.
2. Planetesimals grow by further collisions
3. Gravity holds them together when big enough
some planetesimals eventually become very
small planets.
Planetesimals forming planets
What happened
next…..
• Solar nebula contracts and flattens
into a disk.
• Condensation nuclei form clumps that
grow into moon-size planetesimals.
• Solar wind from star formation blows
out the rest of the gas.
• Planetesimals collide and grow.
• Growing planetesimals form the
planets over about 100 million years.
• The more massive proto-planets are
also able to sweep up large amounts
of gas to become the Jovian planets.
Planets and Stars
■ Planets: smaller size, lower
temperature
■ Stars: bigger size, higher
temperature.
Facts that does not agree with the
solar nebula;
1. Venus spins on its axis in the opposite way
to all the other planets.
Gravity and Planet Formation
1. There is a force of attraction between any
two objects in the universe called gravity.
- Any object whether big or small, that
includes planets and stars.
2.When a star forms, a cloud of gas and dust also
forms around it. The objects in the gas and dust
clouds are very, very small, but the force of gravity
exists between them and, in time, pulls them
together.
Dust particles are pulled together by gravity
and, when they touch, they stick together to
form larger rocky particles. These rocky
particles are pulled together by gravity and
form larger pieces of rock. These large pieces
are pulled together by gravity to make even
larger pieces.
Gravity and Planet Formation
■ This process of rocky pieces coming
together and sticking by the force of
gravity continues, and, in time, a planet is
formed.
■ The force of gravity between the planet
and the gases around it bring the gases
closer to the planet, and they form an
atmosphere over its surface.
Work by Pair
Make a comic strip about the formation of
the solar system based on solar nebula
hypothesis.
Answer the crossword puzzle.
