what will form a giant cloud that formed the solar system
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a supernova explosion is necessary to produce the heavy elements that are present in the solar system
The giant cloud that formed the solar system is known as the solar nebula. To understand how the solar nebula formed, we need to go back in time around 4.6 billion years ago.
1. Gravitational Collapse: The process started when a nearby supernova explosion or a passing star's gravitational pull destabilized a region of interstellar gas and dust. This caused the cloud to collapse under its own gravity.
2. Conservation of Angular Momentum: As the cloud collapsed, it began to spin faster due to the conservation of angular momentum. This led to the formation of a spinning disk-shaped nebula.
3. Accretion of Material: Within the spinning nebula, material started to clump together due to gravity. These clumps gradually grew larger as they accumulated more nearby material, forming planetesimals (small planetary building blocks).
4. Formation of Protoplanetary Disk: The central region of the nebula, where most of the material accumulated, eventually formed the protosun (predecessor of the Sun). Meanwhile, the remaining material formed a thin, rotating disk known as the protoplanetary disk.
5. Planet Formation: Within the protoplanetary disk, larger bodies called planetesimals collided and merged together, forming planets. Over millions of years, these collisions and mergers continued until the major planets (like Earth and Jupiter) took shape.
6. Clearing of the Nebula: The intense radiation from the newly formed Sun eventually cleared out the remaining gas and dust in the protoplanetary disk, leaving behind the planets and smaller objects like asteroids and comets.
This process, known as the nebular hypothesis, explains how the giant cloud of gas and dust, called the solar nebula, eventually collapsed and formed our solar system.