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Earths Formation
Earths Formation
• Nebula -
Interstellar cloud of
dust, hydrogen,
helium, and other
ionized gases.
The Nebular Hypothesis
Homogenous
Very hot
Bombardment From Space
For the first half billion years of its existence,
the surface of the Earth was repeatedly
pulverized by asteroids and comets of all sizes
One of these collisions formed the Moon
Formation of the Moon
The Giant Impact Hypothesis - 50
million years after creation of
Earth, a planet about the size of
Mars collided with Earth
First proposed about 30 years ago,
but it took calculations by modern
high-speed computers to prove the
possibility
Formation of the Moon
This collision had to be very spectacular!
A considerable amount of material was blown off into space, but most
fell back onto the Earth
Formation of the Moon
Part of the material from the collision remained in orbit around the
Earth
By the process collision and accretion, this orbiting material
coalesced into the Moon
The early Moon orbited very close to the Earth
Segregation of elements: gravitational force
Compositionally distinct
Physically distinct layers
layers