Planetesimal Hypothesis, a theory of the origin of the solar system.

It was
proposed by Forrest R. Moulton and Thomas C. Chamberlin about 1900.
The theory states that the planets were formed by the accumulation of
extremely small bits of matterplanetesimalsthat revolved around the sun.
This matter was produced when a passing star almost collided with the sun.
During the near-collision, hot gases were pulled out of both stars and the
gases then condensed. The planetesimal hypothesis was widely accepted
for about 35 years.
The greatest flaw in the theory is the assumption that the material drawn
out of the stars would condense. The extremely hot gases that make up a
star are held together by the gravitational forces within the star. Once the
material was pulled away to where the gravitational forces were weaker, it
would expand because of its heat. Before condensation could take place,
the gases would have almost entirely dissipated. The planetesimal
hypothesis is no longer considered a likely explanation of the origin of the
solar system.
The Jeans-Jeffreys tidal hypothesis, championed by James Jeans and
HaroldJeffreys, 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,
theChamberlin-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.
The Protoplanet Hypothesis The protoplanet hypothesis suggests that about 5 billion
years ago a great cloud of gas and dust rotated slowly in space. The cloud was at
least 10 billion kilometers in diameter. As time passed, the cloud shrank under the
pull of its own gravitation or was made to collapse by the explosion of a passing
star. Most of the cloud's material gathered around its own center. Its shrinking made
it rotate faster, like a spinning whirlpool. The compression of its material made its
interior so hot that a powerful reaction, hydrogen fusion, began and the core of the
cloud blazed into a newborn sun. About 10 percent of the material in the cloud
formed a great plate-like disk surrounding the sun far into space. Friction within the
disk caused most of its mass to collect in a number of huge whirlpools or eddies.
These eddies shrank into more compact masses called protoplanets and later
formed planets and moons. Some uncollected material remains even today as
comets, meteoroids, and asteroids.

Origin of the Solar System:

The basic premise in the understanding of our origins, and the properties
of all the planets we have studied this term, is that natural forces created
and shaped the Solar System. And that there is a continuity to that
process, i.e. it is not a sequence of random events.

Any model or theory for the formation of the Solar System must have a set
of explanations for large-scale and small-scale properties.
Large-Scale:
1. the planets are isolated in orderly intervals

2. orbits are nearly circular

3. orbits are in the same plane
4. all planets revolve prograde
Small-Scale:
1. most planets rotate prograde
2. the systems of moons can be divided into regular objects (spherical)
with direct orbits versus irregular objects with eccentric orbits
3. terrestrial planets have
i.
ii.

high densities
thin or no atmospheres

iii.

rotate slowly

iv.

rocky, poor in ices and H/He

4. jovian worlds have

i.
ii.

low densities
thick atmospheres

iii.

rotate rapidly

iv.

many moons

v.

fluid interiors, rich in ices, H/He

5. most of outer SS objects (not just jovian worlds) are ice-rich

Also note that the overall architecture of our Solar System is orderly and
the ages of its members uniform. All indicators point to a single formation
event about 4.6 billion years ago.
The above is not to ignore the fact that a great deal of evolution occurred
in the Solar System after it formed (see below). For example, the origin
secondary atmospheres of the terrestrial worlds underwent a large amount
of chemical processing (Venus was baked, Mars was frozen, Earth
developed life). There was also orbital evolution as well, rings were formed,
moons captured, tidal locking between worlds (e.g. Pluto and Charon). So
the Solar System is not a static system, it is dynamic.

How does one test a hypothesis?

To answer scientific questions requires the formulation of a hypothesis.
The hypothesis is tested against the facts to look for contradictions that
rule out or require modification to the hypothesis. Note that the process of
hypothesis formulation and then theory building is a lengthy, career
dependent operation. So the sociology of science requires that a hypothesis
be tested and confirmed by many scientists since the creator of the
hypothesis has a strong psychological attachment to his work.

Encounter Hypothesis:
One of the earliest theories for the formation of the planets was called the
encounter hypothesis. In this scenario, a rogue star passes close to the Sun
about 5 billion years ago. Material, in the form of hot gas, is tidally
stripped from the Sun and the rogue star. This material fragments into
smaller lumps which form the planets. This hypothesis has the advantage
of explaining why the planets all revolve in the same direction (from the

encounter geometry) and also provides an explanation for why the inner
worlds are denser than the outer worlds.

However, there are two major problems for a theory of this type. One is
that hot gas expands, not contracts. So lumps of hot gas would not form
planets. The second is that encounters between stars are extremely rare,
so rare as to be improbable in the lifetime of the Universe (15 billion
years).
Nebular Hypothesis:
A second theory is called the nebular hypothesis. In this theory, the whole
Solar System starts as a large cloud of gas that contracts under selfgravity. Conservation of angular momentum requires that a rotating disk
form with a large concentration at the center (the proto-Sun). Within the
disk, planets form.

While this theory incorporates more basic physics, there are several
unsolved problems. For example, a majority of the angular momentum in
the Solar System is held by the outer planets. For comparison, 99% of the
Solar System's mass is in the Sun, but 99% of its angular momentum is in
the planets. Another flaw is the mechanism from which the disk turns into
individual planets.
Protoplanet Hypothesis:
The current working model for the formation of the Solar System is called
the protoplanet hypothesis. It incorporates many of the components of the

nebular hypothesis, but adds some new aspects from modern knowledge of
fluids and states of matter.

Meanwhile in the inner Solar System:

Note that as the planet's began to form they grew in mass by accreting
planetesimals. Since force of gravity is proportional to mass, the largest

planetesimals are accreted first. The early proto-planets are able to sweep
the early Solar System clean of large bodies.
Notice also that the lighter compounds are vaporized in the inner Solar
System. So where did all the outgassing material come from? The answer
is comets that fall from the outer Solar System after the planets form.
Meanwhile in the outer Solar System:

The Jovian worlds, having an early edge on gathering mass in the colder
outer solar disk, were the most efficient at capturing planetesimals, which
only served to increase their already large masses. As the planetesimals

shrink in average size, collisions with proto-planets lead to fragmentation.

So quickly the Solar System divided into large proto-planets and smaller
and smaller planetesimals which eventually became the numerous meteors
we see today.
Any leftover large bodies were captured as moons or ejected by gravity
assist into the Oort cloud. The start of thermonuclear fusion in the Sun's
core created enough luminosity so that the remaining hydrogen and
helium gas in the solar disk was removed by radiation pressure.
The only remaining problem is the distribution of angular momentum. The
current explanation for the fact that most of the angular momentum is in
the outer planets is that, by some mechanism, the Sun has lost angular
momentum. The mechanism of choice is magnetic braking.