An Essay on the Formation of the Solar System and Earth's Evolution

This essay provides a comprehensive overview of the formation of the solar system and the subsequent evolution of Earth. It begins by explaining the role of gravity in pulling together gas and dust to form the solar system, focusing on the formation of the molecular cloud and the protostar. The essay then delves into the Nice model, the role of planet interactions, and the formation of the Kuiper Belt. It also discusses the unique characteristics of Earth, including the presence of water and the potential sources of this water, such as the asteroid belt and meteorites. The essay further examines the theories surrounding the origin of life on Earth, including the RNA World hypothesis and the role of single-celled organisms. Finally, it references the use of computer models and statistical methods to understand how life flourished on Earth, highlighting the significance of "domains" in the process. The essay concludes by summarizing the key stages and events in the formation and evolution of the solar system and Earth.

Running head: FORMATION OF SOLAR SYSTEM AND EVOLUTION OF EARTH
Formation of Solar System and Evolution of Earth
Name of the student
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1FORMATION OF SOLAR SYSTEM AND EVOLUTION OF EARTH
The Solar System refers to planetary system of Sun which is gravitationally bound and
the objects that orbit around the Sun. There are various objects that orbit Sun directly of which
the largest are eight planets. The objects which orbit the Sun in the indirect manner are moons.
Solar System was formed from gravitational collapse of the molecular clouds (Banerjee et al.
2016). This essay throws light on how the Solar System was formed. The essay also talks about
the evolution of Earth as planet.
Around 4.5 billion years ago, gravity was responsible for pulling the cloud of the dust
along with the gas together that helped in the formation of the solar system. The massive
concentration of the interstellar gas along with the dust was responsible for creating the
molecular cloud that formed the birthplace of the Sun (Pfalzner et al. 2015). The cold
temperature made the gas in clumping together that growed denser gradually. The dense part of
the cloud started to collapse under the own gravity that helped in the formation of the stellar
objects which was known as the protostars. The gravity collapsed material into that of infant
object that gave rise to the star from where the planets would be born.
It was brought out in recent times that the planets were bound in that of near-circular
objects and it was in a much more compact form as it is in the present age. There was a large
disk of the rocks along with the ice that surrounded them that stretched around to around 35
times of the distance in between the Earth and the sun. This was the Nice model as it was
discussed in city of France in the year 2005 (Förstel et al. 2016). The grains that condensed
within the solar nebula joined to form larger chunks. The interaction of planets with smaller
bodies scattered them towards sun. This process traded energy with objects that send Saturn,
Neptune along with Uranus into that of solar system. Small objects were able to reach Jupiter
that made them fly to edge of solar system. The movement that took place in between the planets
Jupiter along with Saturn was responsible for driving Uranus along with the Neptune into the
eccentric orbits (Martin and Livio 2016). The material was flung in the inward direction and it
crashed into that of terrestrial planets at the time of Heavy Bombardment. There was other kind
of material that was hurled in the outward direction that led to the formation of Kuiper Belt. In
the event of moving in the outward direction, Neptune along with Uranus traded the places. The
interactions with that of remaining debris caused the planets to settle into the circular paths when
they reached current distance from sun (Schiller et al. 2017).

2FORMATION OF SOLAR SYSTEM AND EVOLUTION OF EARTH
Earth is different from the rest of the planets owing to the fact that it contained water.
There are many scientists who think that this paved the path for the evolution of life on the Earth.
Current location of planet was warm for the collection of water within the early solar system.
The scientists do not know clearly regarding the source of the water. Asteriod belt acted as
potential source of the water. There are various meteorites that have talked about the alteration
along with the changes that was made in the early lifetimes that brings out that the water in some
kind of form used to interact with the surface (Reinhard et al. 2016). The effect from the
meteorites can be said to be source of the water for that of the planets. There are various
scientists in the present age who have contradicted the previous notion that early Earth could not
collect the water. They stated that in the event of the planets being formed fast it was responsible
for collecting the necessary amount of the water from that of icy grains but they evaporated after
that (Corkrey et al. 2018).
There are various kinds of theories regarding how the life arose on the Earth. Life used to
go through a period and RNA used to guide the life through that of the nascent stages. On the
basis of “RNA World” hypothesis, RNA proved to be the crux molecule that led to the formation
of primitive life on the Earth. There are other scientists who talk about how the life on the Earth
started with that of the molecules that were much smaller and less complicated as compared to
the RNA (Aurobindo 2016). The life flourished on the Earth with the help of single-celled
organism that lived around 3.5 billion years ago. The study that was carried out with the help of
computer models along with the statistical methods have talked about the fact how life flourished
on the Earth with the help of “domains”. The domains can be said to be bacteria that was called
Archaea along with the eukaryotes that comprised of plants along with the multi cellular species.
Theobold who is a chemist at that of Brandeis University in Waltham has talked about the fact
how the humans rose in that of the current form and they do not have any kind of evolutionary
ancestors.
It was around that of 4.5 billion years ago in the event of gravity pulling cloud of the dust
lead to the forming of the solar system. The interstellar gas was responsible for creation of
molecular cloud which gave rise to birthplace of Sun. Dense portion of cloud collapsed under
that of gravity that formed stellar objects by the name of protostars. Gravity was responsible for
collapsing the material in infant object that paved the path for rise of star that led to the birth of

3FORMATION OF SOLAR SYSTEM AND EVOLUTION OF EARTH
the planets. Asteroid belt was responsible for acting as a source pertaining to the water. There are
a large number of meteorites which in the event of interacting with the surface of the earth
brought out the element of the water. The computer models and that of statistical methods have
brought out the fact how life was able to flourish on the Earth by taking recourse to “domains”.

4FORMATION OF SOLAR SYSTEM AND EVOLUTION OF EARTH
References
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