AST101H1 Chapter Notes - Chapter 8: Planetesimal, Solar Wind, Oort Cloud

• School: UTSG
• Department: Astronomy & Astrophysics
• Course: AST101H1
• Professor: Michael Reid

Document Summary

The cloud that gave birth to our solar system was the product of recycling of gas through many generations of stars within our galaxy. This material consisted of 98% hydrogen and helium and 2% all other elements combined. The general process in which solid particles form in a gas is called condensation we say that the particles condense out of the gas. The ingredients of the solar nebula fell into four major categories: Hydrogen and helium gas (98% of the solar nebula). Hydrogen compounds (1. 4% of the solar nebula). Materials such as water, methane, and ammonia can solidify into ices at low temperatures (below about. 150k under the low pressure of the solar nebula). Metals such as iron, nickel, and aluminum are also gaseous at very high temperatures, but condense into solid form at higher temperatures than rock typically in the range of 1000 k to 1600 k.