formation of mercury by triana henz. in the beginning… there was a giant cloud of particles within...
Post on 22-Dec-2015
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In the beginning…
• There was a giant cloud of particles within the Milky Way
• Particles start to rotate
• The cloud starts to collapse on itself
• A star is born at the center!!
What takes place in a few Myr?
• Accretion Theory takes place
• Heavy elements make their way closer to the sun
• A temperature difference takes place at about 4 AU, allowing the inner gas to be hotter
Planets
• Particles gather to form cosmic dust
• Cosmic dust stick together to grow into small planet like objects
• The small planet like objects collide with each other
• As the dust clears, we have proto-planets!!
Mercury
• The out-liner of the inner planets
• Has a high density, molten core, magnetic field, and a big core
Thoughts on the mysteries
• Theories have to account mostly for the high density that is observed
• Most theories take place during the early stages of the solar system
• Three leading theories:– Selective Accretion– Post-accretional
vaporization– Giant impact Stripping
Selective Accretion
• Enrichment of iron that leads to the high density
• Principles:– Needs mechanical and aerodynamic
accretion processes– A low chemical equilibrium
condensation temperature
Why was iron so rich?
• The solar nebula in the feeding zone was naturally rich with iron
• Particles were so close to the Sun that it was reducing the other elements to a metallic form that had a high melting point to solidify
• This process could explain why Mercury is highly density
Post-accretional Vaporization
• After Mercury was formed, the solar winds were strong enough to blow away the original surface
• The solar winds would’ve contained intense solar electromagnetic and particle radiation
Giant Impact Stripping
• Object crashed into Mercury
• Object needs to be about Mars size
• The impact had blown away the upper layers of proto-Mercury
Correct Theory?
• Depending on when Mercury was impacted, the material ejected would need to go somewhere
• Candidates for where the material ended up are the Sun, Venus, and Earth
• The Solar Winds would most likely leave a few traces of the proto layers since the Solar Winds wouldn’t be able to make a near spherical object
• Chemical equilibrium condensation models for the solar nebula can’t account for a molten core at Mercury’s present orbit or density if formed between .4-1.4 AU
• The condensation models also need to take into account why Mercury is the only one that is affected by the lower temperature
• To know which of the theories is correct, chemical composition needs to be known of the surface
• Each would leave trace evidence of their existence since each has their own unique signature of oxides and iron oxides
One More Thing…
• There is no doubt that the position of Mercury gives itself to an unique formation
• It has us believing that we’ll know our solar system and all planet formation if we study it closely
• And now we look
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