GEOL 102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Protoplanetary Disk, Gravitational Collapse, Planetesimal
Document Summary
To understand the processes that formed our solar system, scientists often used computer models and observations of other star systems. Nebula- a cloud of debris and gases (hydrogen, helium, etc) in space. We think that the nebula where our star was born was formed from the remnants of a supernova. The composition of the planets and other bodies in our solar system suggests this origin. Heavy elements are formed during the violent collapse of the supernova. The dense cloud formed incorporating the remnants of the supernova. As the hot gases in the nebula cooled over time, the cloud started to contract. This would have increased the speed of rotation within the system conservation of angular momentum. These rotational forces paired with the gravitational forces reshaped the cloud into a disk. This protoplanetary disk had a dense inner core and a less dense outer rim. Collisions occur between grains within the disk. Some material joined the forming star at the core.
