From Dust Cloud To Planet- Part 1

 

The previous post explored the most accepted theory on the birth of the universe, but it missed the long process of how a cloud of dust eventually came to be the planet we call home. According to the Big Bang Theory, all the elements on the periodic table were formed in the cores of stars, and these elements eventually came together to form planets and life as we know it. However, these elements didn’t simply assemble and form our world in a couple of years. 

The Earth is said to have formed around 4.6 billion years ago. The early solar system was called a solar nebula, and as it collapsed under its own gravity, it began to spin and flatten into a disk. The accumulation of dust, gas, and other materials in the early solar system is a process known as accretion. The region where most of the mass was concentrated- the center- eventually led to the formation of a star, the Sun. The remaining material is called the protoplanetary material and began to form smaller bodies called planetesimals. 

Planetesimals were primarily composed of rock, metal, and ice. In the early solar system, planetesimals collided and merged to form larger bodies frequently. Picture tiny balls of clay colliding with one another to eventually form larger balls of clay. As bodies acquire more mass, their gravitational pull increases. Therefore, they began to attract and accumulate the smaller bodies. This process depended on a number of factors, like the size and mass of the planetesimals, their velocities, and the distribution of the material in the early solar system. Isn’t it incredible how such a wide range of variables was involved, and yet somehow the conditions were perfect to eventually create human life? Without these exact conditions, you wouldn’t be here reading this post at this very moment. The process of the protoplanetary material accumulating continued until the planets in the solar systems reached their final sizes and configurations. 

The process of planet formation was not uniform across the solar system, and the characteristics of the planets we see today reflect the specific conditions that existed in different regions of the early solar system. Maybe this is why our planet seems to be the only habitable one in our solar system, with just the right conditions for life to thrive. Or, maybe the conditions that we recognize as perfect for life to thrive may be different from the conditions required for different lives to thrive, and there may be all kinds of life forms present on other planets. Stay tuned to find out about what took place on our planet to give us the moon, atmosphere, and oceans of today, allowing our life to thrive.