01
Temperature sorts materials
Rock and metal can stay solid near the Sun. Water and other ices need colder regions farther out.
Earth & space · 26 minutes
Build a world from its starting place
The planet-forming disk was hot near the young Sun and cold far away. Growing worlds also differed in how strongly they held gas.
Keep this question in mindWhy are the planets so different?
01
Notice the problem
Heat sorted matter before planets existed.
Rock survived near the Sun. Ice added building material beyond the frost line. Gravity decided how much gas stayed.
One disk. Many worlds.Heat sorted matter before planets existed.
Rock survived near the Sun. Ice added building material beyond the frost line. Gravity decided how much gas stayed.
02
Three things to notice
Look at these three ideas.
Each picture shows one part of the question. You will test the ideas next.
02
More solid material builds larger cores
Beyond the frost line, ice added material that helped some planetary cores grow quickly.
03
Gravity can hold an atmosphere
A more massive, cooler world can keep faster-moving gases more easily than a small hot world.
03
Your prediction
Which starting conditions favour a giant planet with abundant gas?
Choose what you think will happen. It is fine to be wrong. The experiment will help you find out.
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