1. SOLAR SYSTEM FORMATION
Adam Marth-Earth Science

2. ENERGY CAN NEITHER BE CREATED NOR
DESTROYED; ONLY TRANSFORMED
Kinetic-Energy of
Motion
Potential-Energy
that is stored
Radiative-Energy
in electromagnetic
waves

3. NEBULAR THEORY
 Claims the origin of the solar system came
from a rotating cloud of interstellar gas (or a
nebula)
 Believed to be remnants of dead star systems
long before the birth of ours
 Formed by supernovas

4. NEBULAR THEORY (CONTINUED)
 Cloud of ice and gas contains a mass
amount of gravitational potential energy
 Cloud collapses inward
 Gravitational Potential converts to kinetic
 Spinning Flattens the cloud into a disc
 Disc spins faster as it is pulled in more
 Center gets REALLY hot and becomes a
star; stellar winds from this blow gas and
dust

5. PLANETS
• Terrestrial Planets
• Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars
• Comprised of metal and rock
• Smaller planets
• Higher Temperature
• Few or Zero Moons

6. HOW DID THESE PLANETS FORM?
 Gases condense into rocky materials
 Accretion
 Became large clumps of rock called
planetesimals
 Planetesimals collide over time
 Sun melts away ice and gases

7. PLANETS
 Jovian Planets
 Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
 Comprised mainly Helium and Hydrogen
 Massive planets
 Rings of ice and rock
 Many Moons

8. HOW DID THESE PLANETS FORM?
 Gas particles condense to icey particles
 Particles clump
 Accretion
 Planetesimals form-they accrete more
 Massive clouds of gas form around ice
 Jovian planets form

10. WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS THEORY?
 Most extra solar planets detected are “Hot
Jupiters”
 Gas giants closed to planets opposed to small
rocky planets
 Venus spins in the opposite direction