Earth and Life Science

Lesson 2: Universe and the Solar

System
OBJECTIVES:

A. I can identify the large scale and small

scale properties of the Solar System;

B. I can discuss the different hypotheses

explaining the origin of the solar system;

C. I can explain the significance of the most

recent advancement/information on the
Solar System.
1. The solar system comprises the Sun, eight
planets, dwarf planets such as Pluto,
satellites, asteroids, comets, other minor
bodies such as those in the Kuiper belt and
interplanetary dust.

2. The asteroid belt lies between Mars and

Jupiter. Meteoroids are smaller asteroids.
They are thought of as remnants of a “failed
planet”—one that did not form due to
disturbance from Jupiter’s gravity.
3. The Kuiper belt lies beyond Neptune (30 to 50
AU, 1 AU = Sun-Earth distance = 150 million
km) and comprise numerous rocky or icy
bodies a few meters to hundreds of kilometers
in size.

4. The Oort cloud marks the outer boundary of

the solar system and is composed mostly of
icy objects
Video Presentation
about the solar
system
Solar System
Overview
A. The solar system is located in the Milky
Way galaxy a huge disc- and spiral-shaped
aggregation of about at least 100 billion
stars and other bodies;
B. Its spiral arms rotate around a globular
cluster or bulge of many, many stars, at the
center of which lies a supermassive
blackhole;
C. This galaxy is about 100 million light years
across (1 light year = 9.4607 × 1012 km;
D. The solar system revolves around the
galactic center once in about 240 million
years;
E. The Milky Way is part of the so-called Local
Group of galaxies, which in turn is part of
the Virgo supercluster of galaxies;
F. Based on the assumption that they are
remnants of the materials from which they
were formed, radioactive dating of
meteorites, suggests that the Earth and
solar system are 4.6 billion years old. on the
assumption that they are remnants of the
materials from which they were formed.
Large Scale Features of the Solar System
1. Much of the mass of the Solar System is
concentrated at the center (Sun) while
angular momentum is held by the outer
planets.
2. Orbits of the planets elliptical and are on
the same plane.
3. All planets revolve around the sun.
4. The periods of revolution of the planets
increase with increasing distance from the
Sun; the innermost planet moves fastest, the
outermost, the slowest;
5. All planets are located at regular intervals
from the Sun.
Small scale features of the Solar System
1. Most planets rotate prograde .
2. Inner terrestrial planets are made of materials
with high melting points such as silicates, iron ,
and nickel. They rotate slower, have thin or no
atmosphere, higher densities, and lower
contents of volatiles - hydrogen, helium, and
noble gases.
3. The outer four planets - Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus
and Neptune are called "gas giants" because
of the dominance of gases and their larger
size. They rotate faster, have thick atmosphere,
lower densities, and fluid interiors rich in
hydrogen, helium and ices (water, ammonia,
methane).
Prograde - counterclockwise when viewed from above
the Earth's North Pole
Element Abundance on Earth, Meteorites,
and Universe

The table below shows the abundance of

elements across bodies in the solar system as
compared to abundance in the universe.
 Video presentation
about the origin of the
solar system
Origin of the Solar System

Any acceptable scientific thought on the

origin of the solar system has to be consistent
with and supported by information about it
(e.g. large and small scale features,
composition). There will be a need to
revise currently accepted ideas should
data no longer support them.
 Where did our own Solar System come
from? Is our sun just an accident? Are the
precisely balanced orbits of its moons and
planets merely the result of random
explosions and outer space traffic jams? Is
it all the result of haphazard chance? —a
jumbled series of gigantic accidents?
Here are some facts you should know:
There have been two main views
regarding the origin of the planets in our
solar system.
1. The first is that another star happened to
pass near our sun, and drew off clouds of
gases which then formed themselves into
planets. This is the planetesimal group of
theories.
2. The other main viewpoint is that a
swirling cloud of gas formed itself into our
sun, planets, moons, comets, and
asteroids.
 Different hypotheses
explaining the origin of the
solar system:
1. Nebular Hypothesis
In the 1700s Emanuel Swedenborg,
Immanuel Kant, and Pierre-Simon
Laplace independently thought of a
rotating gaseous cloud that cools and
contracts in the middle to form the sun
and the rest into a disc that become the
planets. This nebular theory failed to
account for the distribution of angular
momentum in the solar system.
2. Encounter Hypotheses

A. Buffon’s (1749) Sun-comet encounter that

sent matter to form planet;
B. James Jeans’ (1917) sun-star encounter that
would have drawn from the sun matter
that would condense to planets,
C. T.C. Chamberlain and F. R. Moulton’s (1904)
planetesimal hypothesis involving a
star much bigger than the Sun
passing by the Sun and draws gaseous
filaments from both out which
planetisimals were formed;
D. Ray Lyttleton’s(1940) sun’s companion star
colliding with another to form a proto-
planet that breaks up to form Jupiter and
Saturn.
E. Otto Schmidt’s accretion theory proposed
that the Sun passed through a dense
interstellar cloud and emerged with a
dusty, gaseous envelope that eventually
became the planets. However, it cannot
explain how the planets and satellites
were formed. The time required to form
the planets exceeds the age of the solar
system.
F. M.M. Woolfson’s capture theory is a
variation of James Jeans’ near-collision
hypothesis. In this scenario, the Sun
drags from a near proto-star a filament of
material which becomes the planets.
Collisions between proto-planets close
to the Sun produced the terrestrial
planets; condensations in the filament
produced the giant planets and their
satellites. Different ages for the Sun and
planets is predicted by this theory.
2. Protoplanet Hypothesis - Current
Hypothesis

A. About 4.6 billion years ago, in the Orion

arm of the Milky Way galaxy, a slowly-
rotating gas and dust cloud dominated
by hydrogen and helium starts to
contract due to gravity
B. As most of the mass move to the center to
eventually become a proto-Sun, the
remaining materials form a disc that will
eventually become the planets and
momentum is transferred outwards.
C. Due to collisions, fragments of dust and
solid matter begin sticking to each other
to form larger and larger bodies from
meter to kilometer in size. These proto-
planets are accretions of frozen water,
ammonia, methane, silicon, aluminum,
iron, and other metals in rock and
mineral grains enveloped in hydrogen
and helium.
D. High-speed collisions with large objects
destroys much of the mantle of Mercury,
puts Venus in retrograde rotation.
E. Collision of the Earth with large object
produces the moon. This is supported by
the composition of the moon very
similar to the Earth's Mantle
F. When the proto-Sun is established as a star,
its solar wind blasts hydrogen, helium,
and volatiles from the inner planets to
beyond Mars to form the gas giants
leaving behind a system we know today
 Recent
advancement/information
on the Solar System
 Exploration of Mars
Since the 1960s, the Soviet Union and the U.S.
have been sending unmanned probes to the
planet Mars with the primary purpose of testing
the planet's habitability. The early efforts in the
exploration of Mars involved flybys through
which spectacular photographs of the Martian
surface were taken. The first successful landing
and operation on the surface of Mars occurred
in 1975 under the Viking program of NASA.
Recently, NASA, using high resolution imagery
of the surface of Mars, presented evidence of
seasonal flow liquid water (in the form of brine -
salty water) on the surface of Mars.
 Rosetta's Comet

Rosetta is a space probe built by the European

Space Agency and launched on 2 March 2004.
One of its mission is to rendezvous with and
attempt to land a probe (Philae) on a comet in
the Kuiper Belt. One of the purpose of the
mission is to better understand comets and the
early solar systems. Philae landed successfully
on comet (67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko) on 12
November 2014. Analysis of the water (ice) from
the comet suggest that its isotopic composition is
different from water from Earth.
 Pluto Flyby

On 14 July 2015, NASA's New Horizon

spacecraft provided mankind the first close-
up view of the dwarf planet Pluto. Images
captured from the flyby revealed a complex
terrain - ice mountains and vast crater free
plain
EVALUATION
ACTIVITY NO. 3
(Group Activity)
1. Name the large scale and small scale
features of the solar system.
2. Discuss the different hypotheses
regarding the origin of the solar
system
3. Discuss the origin and evolution of the
solar system based on the most current
hypothesis (Proto Planet Hypothesis)
4. Enumerate the most recent advancements
in the understanding of the Solar
System
Rubrics:

This is how to give points for each

answer

EXCEEDS EXPECTATIONS 5 pts

MEETS EXPECTATIONS 3 pts
NEEDS IMPROVEMENT 2 pts
Be Ready for a
quiz next
meeting
Thank You!