Formation of the Solar System and Importance of Liquid Water for Life

This document explains the formation of the solar system through the process of gravitational contraction and accretion. It also highlights the importance of liquid water for life and the factors that determine its existence on any planet. The document includes references for further reading.

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Question One
Formation of the solar system
Solar system was formed 6.6 million years ago when there was pulling together of gravity on the
cloud of low density with interstellar gas and dust called Nebula. At the beginning, the cloud was
actually more years light across. Presence of small over density caused contraction to begin. As
the cloud contracted, there was change of the gravitational potential energy into the kinetic
energy of the gas particles. This translated to gravitational contraction. The particles collision
was converted into heat and nebula became hottest at the Centre hence forming protosun.At the
Centre temperature rose to10 million K. The collision of the atoms at this high temperature led to
the ignition of the sun after 50 million years. Around the sun, small disk led to the formation of
planets, asteroids, comets and moon. This particular disk had about 0.2% of the all mass of the
solar nebula whose particles were moving in circular orbits(Crida & Charnoz 2012).
This circular motion of the disk was responsible for its stability since it prevented it from
collapsing. As the disk radiated the heat from its internal structure, there was a drop of the
temperature which led to the formation of tiny particles through condensation. These particles
orbited the sun. Gentle collision allowed the flakes to stick together that led to the attraction of
more solid particles. The process was known as accretion. The accretion process led to the
formation of planetsimals.After the planetsimals had grown, the collision became more
destructive .The collision of the planetsimals is believed to have resulted into the formation of
the terrestrial planets and outer gas giant moon, comets and asteroids resulting into the formation
of the solar system-Sun, planets, moons, comets, asteroids within 50-100 million years
ago(Zambardi, Poitrasson, Corgne, Méheut, Quitté & Anand 2013).

Question two
It is important to note that water in liquid state is very essential for life. The existence of this
water on any planet is determined by the two major factors
Temperature: The temperature has to be the right one. Not too low temperature and not too high
temperatures
Proper atmosphere and magnetic field: This prevents the irradiation of the water into hydroxyls
on the surface.
Figure 1:Graphical analysis of Goldlink Zones(Zambardi, Poitrasson, Corgne ,Méheut, Quitté &
Anand 2013)

References
Crida, A., & Charnoz, S. (2012). Formation of regular satellites from ancient massive rings in the
solar system. Science, 338(6111), 1196-1199.
Zambardi, T., Poitrasson, F., Corgne, A., Méheut, M., Quitté, G., & Anand, M. (2013). Silicon
isotope variations in the inner solar system: Implications for planetary formation,
differentiation and composition. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 121, 67-83.