What physical law explains why the initial roughly spherical solar nebula flattened into a disk shape?
Answer
The law of conservation of angular momentum.
The transformation of the initial, massive, roughly spherical solar nebula into a flattened disk structure is explained by the fundamental principle of the conservation of angular momentum. As the cloud contracts inward due to its own self-gravity, its radius decreases. To conserve the total angular momentum, the rotational speed must increase significantly. This rapid spinning causes the cloud to flatten perpendicular to the axis of rotation, spreading out into a disk shape. This process is often analogized to a glob of pizza dough spreading outward as it is spun in the air, leading to the eventual accretion disk from which the planets coalesced.
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