According to our theory of solar system formation, why do all the planets orbit the Sun in the same direction and in nearly the same plane?

Question

BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

Consider how a rotating, diffuse cloud of gas and dust behaves under gravity. When such a cloud collapses, its overall angular momentum must be conserved (conservation of angular momentum), meaning as the cloud shrinks, it must spin faster. At the same time, energy considerations lead to the redistribution of material into a flattened, rotating structure rather than a spherical lump.

Option analysis: The statement cites conservation of energy and conservation of angular momentum as the key principles. Conservation of angular momentum explains why the collapsing cloud spins up and forms a disk as it contracts—the rotation provides centrifugal support that flattens the cloud into a disk while it collapses toward the center. Conservation of energy helps describe how kinetic energy and gravitational potential energy exchange as the cloud evolves, but the crucial driver for a disk and a common rotation direction is angular momentum conservation.

Why the planets share direction and a similar plane: as material within the protoplanetary disk coalesces to form planets, they inherit the disk’s overall angular momentum vector. Because all material in the disk shares that same rotation, the orbits of forming planets lie roughly in the same plane and progress in the same direction, barring later perturbations or dramatic events.

Why other scenarios are not described here: since there are no alternative options listed to compare, the key idea remains that angular momentum conservation during collapse naturally yields a spinning, flattened disk, which in turn sets the common orbital direction and near-coplanar arrangement of planets.

EARTHSC 2205 SP2025 (19389) Solar System

According to our theory of solar system formation, why do all the planets orbit the Sun in the same direction and in nearly the same plane?

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