The solar system contracted out of a rotating cloud of hydrogen and helium gas. The momentum of the rotation flattened the originally round cloud into a disk, somewhat the way a ball of pizza dough can be made flat by spinning it in the air. As it flattened, gaseous material condensed and aggregated to form more solid material. For a diagram showing which material condensed near Saturn, click here. |
Scientists think that the solar system formed out of a spinning cloud of hydrogen and helium gas. Because the cloud was spinning, it flattened into a frisbee shape, just like a ball of pizza dough becomes flat when a chef spins it in the air. The planets and the sun started to form after the cloud became a flat disc. As the cloud flattened, the gaseous material inside was forced to begin changing into solid form. For a diagram showing which material condenced near Saturn, click here These little particles of solid material were soft and sticky, and further clumped together to form larger balls of solid material whenever they touched each other, somewhat the way "silly putty" does. Eventually only a few large clumps of this material remained in the forming solar system, and they became the core of "protoplanets". |
Scientists think that the solar system formed out of a spinning cloud of hydrogen and helium molecules. Because the cloud was spinning, it flattened into a frisbee shape, just like a ball of pizza dough becomes flat when a chef spins it in the air. The planets and the sun started to form after the cloud became a flat disc. |
