Descartes' Vortex Theory

No empty space can exist and that space must

consequently be filled with matter
The parts of this matter tend to move in straight paths, but because they lie close
together, they can not move freely, which according to Descartes implies that every
motion is circular, so the aether is filled with vortices. Descartes also distinguishes
between different forms and sizes of matter in which rough matter resists the circular
movement more strongly than fine matter. Due to centrifugal force, matter tends
towards the outer edges of the vortex, which causes a condensation of this matter
there. The rough matter cannot follow this movement due to its greater inertiaso
due to the pressure of the condensed outer matter those parts will be pushed into the
center of the vortex. According to Descartes, this inward pressure is nothing else than
gravity. He compared this mechanism with the fact that if a rotating, liquid filled
vessel is stopped, the liquid goes on to rotate. Now, if one drops small pieces of light
matter (e.g. wood) into the vessel, the pieces move to the middle of the vessel.
Descartes attempted to figure out the enigma of gravity and the necessity of a medium
in space for any function to happen (including gravitation!) with the "Vortex" Theory
of colliding particles which hypothesized that the collisions supply the force that
pushed the planets towards the Sun. His theory might have been disproved later, but
his philosophy and the attempt at a solution were very influential for further research
in the later part of the seventeenth century.
Matter and motion were used by Descartes to explain every natural process by means
of mechanical models, even though he did not put a stamp of finality on his theory.
They provided merely the "most likely models" which seemed quite plausible if you
try to apply basic laws of nature!

Buffons Collision Theory

Planets were formed as a result of a head-on
collision between a comet and the sun.
Buffons career centered on a single enormous project: an encyclopedia he called
Histoire Naturelle, which he planned to contain everything known in his day about
the natural world. (Buffon only managed to publish 36 out of his projected 50
volumes before he died.) To create it, he was able to draw on his own astonishing
expertise, which ranged from astronomy to botany, as well as the knowledge of
experts he consulted. But in writing his encyclopedia he did not merely parrot the
opinions of others. Instead, he tried to explain all of the facts he amassed with
overarching theories about the planet and its inhabitants.
He surmised that the planets were formed as a result of a head-on collision between a
comet and the sun. Chunks of matter were splashed out of the sun during the
collision and these chunks then condensed to form the planets.

Kant-Laplace Nebular Theory

The solar system began as a cloud of dispersed particles.
In 1775, the famous German Philosopher and forerunner of evolutionism, Immanuel
Kant, although highly versed in neither physics nor mathematics, anonymously
published his views on origin of Earth, later coined as nebular hypothesis. There in
he advanced his belief that hard particles of matter collided with one another by
gravitational attraction, and generated heat and rotation in this process. Kants
central idea that the solar system began as a cloud of dispersed particles was further
developed and articulated by French astronomer Pierre-Simon Laplace in his 1796
book Systme du monde ("The System of the World"). In his modification, he let the
planets to be formed before the Sun. Although first the telescopic discovery of 'gas
nebulas' in space by the great English observational astronomer William Hershel was
interpreted as persuasive evidence for the Kant-Laplace nebular hypothesis.

Jean-Jeffreys Tidal Theory

The solar system is the result of a close encounter
between the Sun and a second star
James Jeans and Harold Jeffreys, explained the origin of the solar system as a result
of a close encounter between the Sun and a second star. However, it differed
significantly from the other major catastrophic hypothesis of the 20th century, the
Chamberlin-Moulton planetesimal hypothesis.
As a result of a detailed mathematical analysis, Jeans concluded in 1916 that the tidal
interaction between the Sun and a passing star would raise tides on the Sun resulting
in the loss of a single cigar-shaped filament of hot gas, rather than separate streams
of gas as in the Chamberlin and Moulton scenario. This hot gas would then condense
directly into the planets instead of going through a planetesimal stage. The central
section of the "cigar" would give rise to the largest planets Jupiter and Saturn
while the tapering ends would provide the substance for the smaller worlds.
This model had important repercussions for the possibility of life elsewhere in the
universe because if planetary systems came about only as a result of freak stellar
encounters, there would be relatively few extrasolar worlds to provide biological
platforms. In his 1923 lecture "The Nebular Hypothesis and Modern Cosmogony,
Jeans said: Astronomy does not know whether or not life is important in the scheme
of things, but she begins to whisper that life must necessarily be somewhat rare.
By the late 1920s, this opinion was shared by many astronomers. However, in 1935,
Henry Norris Russell raised what would become fatal objections to the Jeans-Jeffreys
hypothesis. He pointed out that it was hard to see how a close stellar encounter could
leave the Sun, which is a thousand times more massive than the planets, with such a
tiny share of the solar system's angular momentum. Furthermore, he could not
understand how the planets could condense out of hot material ejected from the Sun.
The former objection was put into stronger form by Russell himself in 1943, while the
latter was strengthened by Russell's student, Lyman Spitzer, in 1939.

Solar Nebular Theory

The solar system formed from a nebula
about 4.5 billion years ago.
The solar nebular hypothesis describes the formation of our solar system from a
nebula cloud made from a collection of dust and gas. It is believed that the sun,
planets, moons, and asteroids were formed around the same time around 4.5 billion
years ago from a nebula.
It's believed that before our solar system was formed 4.5 billion years ago, a nebula,
which is an interstellar cloud of gas and dust, was present in our location. As gravity
does with everything, it began to condense the gas into varying regions of density.
The denser regions began to grow into clumps of matter, which, over the course of
time, would be the seeds for the formation of our sun, planets, and moons.
As gravity condensed the gas, rotation of the gas increased, spreading the gas cloud
into a rotating disk that would form the plane of the solar system as we know it today.
Evidence of this can be seen because all of the planets revolve around the sun in the
same plane and direction.
The center of the disk of spinning gas experienced the least amount of centripetal
force, which allowed a majority of mass from the nebula cloud to be attracted to the
center by the force of gravity. In fact, 99.85% of all the mass in the solar system is in
the sun.
As gravity compacted the material in the sun, mostly hydrogen gas, pressure began to
increase and heat the gas. About 4.5 billion years ago, the mass reached a critical
point, and the hydrogen at the center was under so much pressure that it fused with
another hydrogen atom, creating helium. This fusion was the birth of our star, the
sun.

Planetesimals, which were early planets, began to grow in size from the clumps of
matter and slam into each other as they revolved around the early forming sun. The
theory of how our moon was formed lines up with this. It's believed that during the
early formation of our solar system, a young Earth and an object about the size of
Mars collided, sending debris into space and reforming within Earth's gravity and
forming the moon.

References
Jozef Rohacek (1936). Evolucionizmus vo svetle pravdy alebo o m kad vzdelan lovek vedie o evolucionizme (Evolutionism in the
light of truth or what should every literate person know about evolutionism) (in Slovak). Bratislava, now Slovakia: Svetlo, Library of Blue
Cross, 9-10, 48-9. Kantova evolun theoria vo svetle Biblie. ... Ale u aj pri tchto vedeckch poznatkoch bada veci, ktor nedovouj
len tak smele usudzova z niekokch znmych faktov na neznme, jako to vidme aj u Uranovch mesiacov. lovek z piatich, iestich
alebo neviem z kokch prkladov usudzuje: Vetky nebesk teles naej slnenej sstavy toia sa od zpadu na vchod, a u je aj zkon
hotov, len ke tu razom zbad, e Uranove mesiace sa vymykaj zpod toho pravidla a toia sa opanm smerom.
Kant-Laplace nebular hypothesis. Retrieved on 12 July 2015.
Origin of the Earth: The Gaseous Theory Of Kant. Paniroti.com (31 July 2013). Retrieved on 18 June 2015. The famous German
Philosopher, Immanuel Kant who anonymously published his views in 1755 was the real profounder of the nebular hypothesis. Kant
introduced the Newtonian law of gravitation in his theory. He believed that the hard particles of supernaturally created matter collided
with one another by gravitational attraction, and generated heat and rotation in this process. In this way the original static and cold matter
was converted into a nebula (cast hot gaseous mass) rotating with such great rapidity that strong centrifugal force was created about
equatorial plane. This led to the throwing off of successive gings of matter. The rings condensed into planets. What remained of the original
nebula became the sun. The planets underwent similar spinning and threw off rings, which became their satellites.
E.J. Larson (2006). Evolution: The Remarkable History of a Scientific Theory. New York: Modern Library, 33-34. ISBN 0-8129-6849-2.
"Old Earth, Ancient Life: Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon" .Understanding Evolution. University of California Museum of
Paleontology. 05 July 2016 http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/history_06
http://descartes.cyberbrahma.com/vortex.html
http://www.revolvy.com/main/index.php?s=Descartes%27%20vortex%20theory&item_type=topic
http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/reference-entries/40421883/collision-theories-planetary-formation-18th-century-astronomy
http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/J/JeansJefftidal.html