The nebular hypothesis of the formation of the solar system assumes that the mat

Question

The nebular hypothesis of the formation of the solar system assumes that the material that became the solar system began as a large spherical cloud of gas and dust, rotating slowly. As the solar system formed, most of this material was transformed into a compact, flattened disk, rotating more rapidly. What is the explanation for this change in shape and rate of rotation?

Then What process heated the early solar nebula as it slowly condensed toward a central protosun? I.e. why was the temperature rising in the center of the contracting nebula?

Explanation / Answer

The reason behind this is the need for conservation of angular momentum. The angular momentum is the product of moment of inertia and angular velocity. Therefore, as the size of the nebula decrease, its moment of inertia also decreased and to compensate for this loss, it started rotating more rapidly in order to conserve angular momentum.

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As the particles started falling towards the center of nebula, there were lot of collisions due to gain in kinetic energy. Due to these collisions, a great amount of heat was released due to which the temperature at the center of the contracting nebula was rising.

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