I am the Sun!
I was formed around 5 BILLION years ago when a MOLECULAR CLOUD of
gas collapsed in on itself due to gravity.
As the cloud collapses under gravity – more and more gases are squeezed
together until the pressure becomes so strong that a baby star is formed and
begins to create its own energy through NUCLEAR FUSION instead of the force
of gravity.
Millions and billions of stars are formed from these large MOLECULAR
CLOUDS.
I am just one of millions and billions of brothers and sisters!!!
My gravity plays a very important part in the Solar System. I am big enough that
my mass actually HOLDS the planets, asteroids, and dwarf planets in their orbit.
My gravity also helped with the formation of the Solar System – pulling the
MORE DENSE rocky materials closer to me than the LESS DENSE gaseous
material.
I am Gravity!
In our Solar System I am produced by the Sun and hold the planets, asteroids,
and dwarf planets in their orbit.
At the beginning of the formation of our Solar System, I played a big part in
getting materials to where they are now.
You see, rocky material is MORE DENSE than gaseous materials – meaning the
molecules that make it up are CLOSER together in rock than in gas. Because of
this, rocky materials were more attracted or drawn towards the Sun by gravity.
Today, we will see how this works by reenacting the formation of the solar
system. Some of you are ROCK and some of you are GAS. Others of you are
special objects known as asteroids and comets.
I will play my role and help you get where you are supposed to be, from that
point temperature will take over and our planets as we know them will form!
I am an asteroid!
I am located in the space between the Terrestrial (rocky) planets and the Jovian
(gas) planets.
Me and my brothers and sisters are small, rocky pieces that might have made up
planets, but are leftover from the birth of our Solar System.
We are typically only the size of a U.S. state – some bigger, some smaller.
I am a comet!
I have been called a “dirty snowball” because I am completely frozen and made
of ice and dust.
Me and my brothers and sisters form in the outer regions of the Solar System –
beyond Pluto in two places – the Kuiper (ky-pur) Belt and the Oort (ort) Cloud.
We are not very big – no bigger than the size of a city – but we put on a great
show! When we get pulled from our homes and travel closer to the Sun, the heat
begins to melt us sending gas and dust in long colorful tails away from that heat.
A cool fact is that our tails ALWAYS point AWAY from the Sun, no matter
where we are in our orbit!