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Earth, Planets, Sun has a common heritage or origin

 Earth is part of Solar System and the Solar

System is part of The Milky Way Galaxy, which
is one of the Galaxies in the Universe.
Origin Of Earth  Scientists have been studying the creation of
universe for last many centuries.
 It is now believed that the Universe was
created through a “Big Bang” some 15 billion
years ago.
What is Galaxy?
 A galaxy is a collection of stars and planets that are held together
by gravity.

 In a galaxy, the celestial bodies rotate around a central object.

Earth, Planets, Sun has a common heritage or origin The Big Bang
~15 billion years ago
 The “Big Bang” theory states
that the universe was formed
about 15 billion years ago from
 The universe holds everything from the tiniest a giant explosion when ENERGY and MASS
particle to the clusters of galaxies (consisting suddenly energy transformed TRANSFORMATION

of stars, planets etc. in a medium of gas and into matter.

dust all held together by gravity.
 Our galaxy, the Milky Way, part of the universe
has hundreds of billions of stars, gas and
dust held together by gravity).
 At present there is no answer
from where this energy came .
BANG
 This matter expanded and
started to cool down, going
through different transitional
phases. Ma= Million Anum = 10x6

 The universe has been Ga= Giga Anum = 10x9

expanding ever since.

Making of Solar System Making of Solar System

 According to the Big Bang theory, the solar
system was formed from a cloud containing
dust and gas i.e. Hydrogen, helium etc. known
as “Nebula”.
 As the nebula contracted, it spun rapidly,
leading to frequent collisions between dust
grains.
 This nebula grew hotter and denser, forming a
disk of gas and dust at its centre.
 Eventually the hot centre of the nebula formed
a star - the sun.
 The particles of nebula dust started sticking
together, eventually forming planets and their
satellites.
 Different planetary particles left over from this
initial explosion can still be found flying
around in space. These particles are called
meteorites.
 By studying these meteorites, scientists have
found that our solar system is about 4600 m.y.
old.

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Making of Solar System Earth From Outer Space

~15 billion years ago :

The Earth and the other 8 planets and the
Sun accreted at about the same time from a
vast cloud of dust and gas (nebula).

~5 billion years ago :

The nebula began to gravitationally contract,
began to rotate and flattened. Eventually, the
Sun ignited (fusion) and the newly formed
planets began to differentiate - heavier
elements and chemical components sank to
the center and rocky material formed the
crust. The newly formed planets and moons
released gas forming early atmospheres.

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Early Evolution of Earth The basic statistics of the earth

• Origin of Planet Earth The earth on which we are live is a Unique
– Most researchers planet of the solar system.
believe that Earth and
1. Polar diam. : ~ 12,714 km
the other planets formed
at essentially the same 2. Equatorial diam. : ~ 12,756 km
time from the same 3. Circumference : 40, 000km
primordial material as 4. Surface Area : ~ 510 m.sq.km.
the Sun. 5. Volume : 1042 billion cu.km
6. Mass : 5.97 ×10 21 tonnes
7. Dist. From the sun : 150 million km
8. Average surface temperature : 14C

Hypothesis for the Origin of Earth
The scientists have developed 2 basic
hypothesis for the origin of the earth or
strictly speaking the origin of the Solar
system……
1. Single body hypothesis - the planets
were formed without intervention from
forces outside the solar system (No
object other than the Sun was
involved)- Single Star Hypothesis.
Hypothesis for the Origin of Earth
2. Second body hypothesis - Assumes
that the solar system originated as a
result of forces created by the
accidental interference of another
celestial object. It presumes that
another star passed close to the sun (2
– star hypothesis)
………………From these basic two
Hypotheses a number of Hypotheses have
been generated.

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(1) The Nebular Hypothesis
(Single Star Hypothesis)
 Perhaps the oldest
explanation.
 By Kant in 1775 & Laplace in 1796.
 This hypothesis assumes the existence
of a large globular mass of gas called
“nebula”, slowly rotating through the
space.
Globular Nebula
Separation of
Gaseous Rings
Separation of
Gaseous Rings
Origin of Solar System from Nebula
(Single Star Hypothesis)
(2) The Planetesimal Hypothesis
2- Star Hypothesis
1. Proposed by Chamberlin & Moulton in
1904.
2. Assumes the existence of two stars in
space in the very beginning.
3. Our sun was considered to be one of
these two stars existing before the
formation of the planets.
4. When the “intruder star” passed by the
sun, it exerted a gravitational force on the
sun & pulled masses of solar material.
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(1) The Nebular Hypothesis
Single Star Hypothesis (contd.)
• During the rotation, the nebular mass started
scientific cooling and contracting simultaneously.
• As it contracted, its speed of rotation
increased.
• Eventually the outermost part of the nebula
rotated so rapidly that rings of gas got
separated from the shrinking nebular body.
• These rings slowly got condensed to form the
planets and the central mass became the sun.
Drawbacks of Nebula Hypothesis
1. If this hypothesis worked, the sun should
have been having the greatest angular
momentum, because it is the most massive
part of the solar system and it (sun) lies at the
centre of the system. But actually, the sun is
having only 2% of the total angular momentum.
2. Such detached rings of gas should have been
dissipated in space rather than getting
condensed into solid particles.
(2) The Planetesimal Hypothesis
2- Star Hypothesis (contd.)
5. This detached material was dragged along in
the direction of movement of the passing star,
and later got cooled & condensed into solid
particles called “planetesimals”. each moving
in its own orbit around the sun.
6. These planetesimals acted as nuclei that
attracted other planetesimals, and by
accretion, the planets eventually grew to their
present sizes.
7. Other smaller clusters of planetesimals, formed
the satellites.
8. As per this hypothesis, the angular momentum
of the planets was derived from the pull of the
passing star.
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Drawbacks of The Planetesimal Hypothesis
1. The motion of the planetesimals could
not possibly be produced by the
passing star .
2. It is highly unlikely that another star
could have passed so close to the sun
and the intruder star could have
generated sufficient thrust to set the
detached solar masses in motion in
orbits. Instead, it is more likely that
such masses would simply diffuse into
the space.
(3) The Tidal Hypothesis
2-Star Hypothesis
 Due to this tidal action, a gaseous filament
got separated from the sun, as soon as the
passing star went away.
 This separated filament was in the form of a
spindle & was unstable.
 It further broken down into a number of small
fragments, each of which condensed to form
planets.
 Some of these planets further broken down
into pieces and formed satellites.
(4) The Turbulent Hypothesis or The
Protoplanet Hypothesis
1. Latest & widely accepted.
2. First proposed by a German physicist in
1944.
3. In the same year, his views were supported
(with some modification) by Schmit, a Soviet
mathematician.
4. In 1951, Kuiper, an American scientist
modified this hypothesis and proposed the
same.
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(3) The Tidal Hypothesis
2-Star Hypothesis
 Hypothesis given by Jeans & Jeffrey, two
British Astronomer.
 Assumed that tides were created on the sun,
due to the force of attraction between the sun
and a “passing star”.
Drawbacks of The Tidal Hypothesis
2-Star Hypothesis
1. The passing star cannot possibly
impart the proper angular momentum to
the gaseous filament
2. A hot filament pulled from the sun would
not form solid planets but simply diffuse
into the space.
(4) The Turbulent Hypothesis or The
Protoplanet Hypothesis (Cont…..)
5. The hypothesis says that in the very
beginning, there was a hot gaseous nebular
mass, rapidly rotating in space.
6. This nebula, due to gravitational attraction,
formed a disc of cloud & dust.
7. Because of its rotating nature, this nebular
disc developed large whirlpool (eddies) at
various places.
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(4) The Turbulent Hypothesis or The (4) The Turbulent Hypothesis or The
Protoplanet Hypothesis (Cont…..) Protoplanet Hypothesis (Cont…..)

8. Ultimately these eddies got separated from
the nebular masses.
9. These independent eddies also contained a
whole system of smaller eddies.
10. These eddies might then have collected the
surrounding dusty material by gravitational
attraction, thus forming swirls of dust and
gas, called “protoplanets”.
11. It is believed that such protoplanets
represent the present day planets.
12. These original protoplanets were much
larger than the finished planets.
13. Smaller eddies got developed inside some
of the larger eddies, giving rise to spinning
discs that became the satellites or moons of
the planets.

Present Understanding

 Many of the astronomers today support

this hypothesis of the Protoplanet The origin of the earth still remains a
hypothesis.
subject of Study
 The observations (through telescopes)
have revealed numerous nebulas
between the stars. Still a BIG QUESTION -?
 It is significant that some of these
massive eddies of gas & dust are
actually condensing to form new stars.

Summary :

This chapter helps you in understanding :

1. What is the relation between Earth, Solar System
and Universe?
2. How Solar System was formed?
3. How earth was formed and what is the current
hypothesis about the origin of Earth?

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