• Question: what theory do you believe in about the formation of our solar system

    Asked by 849satm27 to Hollie on 11 Mar 2018.
    • Photo: Hollie Heard

      Hollie Heard answered on 11 Mar 2018:


      There’s a really good exhibit at the Natural History Museum in London where I went today to go and see the Venom exhibition about venomous species, (including a live bird-eating tarantula), called ‘From the beginning’ that explain all about how out solar system and the Earth was formed. How they explain it is the version I believe! So, about 15,000 million year ago the big bang happened creating a ‘hot particle soup’. After three minutes as it cooled slightly helium nuclei began to form. After another 300,000 years it had cooled down even more and electrons began to form around these nuclei creating atoms; the building blocks of all life and materials. After serval millions of years as things cooled even further this matter began to contract creating stars and galaxies and about 10,000 million years ago our galaxy the milky way was formed. Out solar system was formed about 4,560 million years ago. We know this from meteorites that have been dated and contain the same building blocks that made the Earth but have been whizzing around in space and haven’t changed in these millions of years. So, back to the story. About 4,560 million years ago there was a nebula, (a big cloud of dust and gas), that started to collapse and flatten out. Most of the materials was drawn into the centre and as it got dense and really hot, creating the Sun. All the remaining gas and dust started to orbit the Sun and began joining together to form small planets. These little planets collided with each other eventually forming the planets that exist today. It took another few millions of years for the Earth to start to develop the structure we know today, with a core and a crust, the atmosphere and oceans. about 4,000 million years ago the Earth had evolved enough that life was about to begin…… So, that’s what I believe based on the evidence I’ve seen. What about you?

Comments