Theories on the Origin of the Solar System

Questions and Answers

Rene Descartes, in the mid 1600, postulated that space was entirely filled with matter in various states, whirling around the Sun like a ______.

vortex

Immanuel Kant suggested that contraction in the middle of the rotating cloud appeared and the rest flattened out like a ______.

disk

Pierre Simon Laplace proposed a model where a slowly rotating nebula collapsed under ______.

gravity

Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon conceived the idea that a ______ collided with the Sun sending matter off to form the planets.

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Harold Urey studied the chemical composition of space objects, concluding that meteorites contain ______.

matter Signup and view all the answers

Victor Safronov proposed that the solar system was formed 4.568 billion years ago when a smaller part of a giant molecular cloud experienced a gravitational ______.

collapse Signup and view all the answers

Laplace's theory described a nebula collapsing into an oblate ______ due to the increase in its spin rate.

spheroid Signup and view all the answers

The Solar Nebular Disk Model states that the Sun flattened into a protoplanetary ______.

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Study Notes

Theory of Vortices

Proposed by Rene Descartes in the mid-1600s.
Suggested a universe filled with matter, whirling around the Sun like a vortex.
Chaos was the starting point, and particles could have arranged to form current structures.
Motion of particles facilitated circular motion creating planetary orbits.
Heavier objects moved outward in the vortex, while lighter ones remained closer to the center.

Nebular Hypothesis

Presented by Immanuel Kant, a century after Descartes.
Focused on a rotating cloud that contracted in the center, flattening into a disk.
Utilized Newton's gravity principles to explain planetary rotation and formation.

Laplace's Nebular Theory

Developed by Pierre Simon Laplace in the 1700s.
Proposed the collapse of a slowly rotating nebula under gravity, leading to an oblate spheroid formation.
Rotation increase due to collapse resulted in cooling and formation of a lens-like structure.
Detached rings of material formed and later condensed into planets.

Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon

Suggested that a comet collided with the Sun, ejecting matter to create planets.
This idea contributed to the notion of cosmic catastrophes impacting solar system formation for centuries.

Harold Urey

Conducted significant research in the mid-20th century on the chemical composition of space objects.
His analysis of meteorites revealed they contained matter, providing new data for understanding solar system formation.

Solar Nebular Disk Model (SNDM)

Proposed by Victor Safronov in the 1970s.
Asserted that the solar system formed 4.568 billion years ago from a gravitational collapse of a section of a giant molecular cloud.
The process led to the creation of the Sun and a flattened protoplanetary disk that formed planets, moons, asteroids, and other small bodies in the solar system.

Description

Explore the fascinating theories behind the origin of the Solar System, with a focus on Rene Descartes' Theory of Vortices. Discover how Descartes envisioned the universe full of whirling matter and the implications of his thoughts on motion and arrangement of particles. Dive into the chaos that could lead to our cosmic structure.