Task: Question Generation
Input (English): The most widely accepted explanation of how the solar system formed is called the nebular hypothesis. According to this hypothesis, the Sun and the planets of our solar system formed about 4.6 billion years ago from the collapse of a giant cloud of gas and dust, called a nebula. The nebula was drawn together by gravity, which released gravitational potential energy. As small particles of dust and gas smashed together to create larger ones, they released kinetic energy. As the nebula collapsed, the gravity at the center increased and the cloud started to spin because of its angular momentum. As it collapsed further, the spinning got faster, much as an ice skater spins faster when he pulls his arms to his sides during a spin. Much of the clouds mass migrated to its center but the rest of the material flattened out in an enormous disk. The disk contained hydrogen and helium, along with heavier elements and even simple organic molecules. As gravity pulled matter into the center of the disk, the density and pressure at the center became intense. When the pressure in the center of the disk was high enough, nuclear fusion began. A star was bornthe Sun. The burning star stopped the disk from collapsing further. Meanwhile, the outer parts of the disk were cooling off. Matter condensed from the cloud and small pieces of dust started clumping together. These clumps collided and combined with other clumps. Larger clumps, called An artists painting of a protoplanetary disk. planetesimals, attracted smaller clumps with their gravity. Gravity at the center of the disk attracted heavier particles, such as rock and metal and lighter particles remained further out in the disk. Eventually, the planetesimals formed protoplanets, which grew to become the planets and moons that we find in our solar system today. Because of the gravitational sorting of material, the inner planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars formed from dense rock and metal. The outer planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune condensed farther from the Sun from lighter materials such as hydrogen, helium, water, ammonia, and methane. Out by Jupiter and beyond, where its very cold, these materials form solid particles. The nebular hypothesis was designed to explain some of the basic features of the solar system: The orbits of the planets lie in nearly the same plane with the Sun at the center The planets revolve in the same direction The planets mostly rotate in the same direction The axes of rotation of the planets are mostly nearly perpendicular to the orbital plane The oldest moon rocks are 4.5 billion years Click image to the left or use the URL below. URL:
Output (English): the inner planets are made primarily of