Which statement describes the nature of gravitational contraction in the solar nebula?
Answer
It was a slow, steady fall of the entire volume of gas toward a common center
Gravitational contraction within the solar nebula was not a sudden explosion or a rapid event; it was a gradual, steady process. The entire volume of gas and dust was pulled inward toward a common center of mass. As the cloud grew denser through this accumulation of material, its gravitational pull increased, which drew in even more matter in a continuous, runaway effect. The motion was a relentless compression of the entire system as it fell inward, slowly transforming a vast, diffuse cloud into a dense and structured core.
Related Questions
What external event is hypothesized to have triggered the initial collapse of the solar nebula?How did the law of conservation of angular momentum affect the solar nebula during its collapse?What primary process caused the center of the solar nebula to heat up during collapse?What condition must be met for a cloud to undergo Jeans instability and begin collapsing?Why does the condensation sequence result in different compositions for planets at varying distances from the Sun?What caused terrestrial planets to form with rocky compositions while gas giants became rich in hydrogen and helium?What is the relationship between the density of the solar nebula and its free-fall time?What physical phenomenon caused the solar nebula to flatten into a spinning disk?How do meteorites serve as evidence for the chemical history of the solar nebula?Which statement describes the nature of gravitational contraction in the solar nebula?