Descartes' Vortex Theory “No empty space can exist and that space must consequently be filled with matter” The parts of this matter tend to move in straight paths, but because they lie close together, they can not move freely, which according to Descartes implies that every motion is circular, so the aether is filled with vortices. Descartes also distinguishes between different forms and sizes of matter in which rough matter resists the circular movement more strongly than fine matter. Due to centrifugal force, matter tends towards the outer edges of the vortex, which causes a condensation of this matter there. The rough matter cannot follow this movement due to its greater inertia —so due to the pressure of the condensed outer matter those parts will be pushed into the center of the vortex. According to Descartes, this inward pressure is nothing else than gravity. He compared this mechanism with the fact that if a rotating, liquid filled vessel is stopped, the liquid goes on to rotate. Now, if one drops small pieces of light matter (e.g. wood) into the vessel, the pieces move to the middle of the vessel. Descartes attempted to figure out the enigma of gravity and the necessity of a medium in space for any function to happen (including gravitation!) with the "Vortex" Theory of colliding particles which hypothesized that the collisions supply the force that pushed the planets towards the Sun. His theory might have been disproved later, but his philosophy and the attempt at a solution were very influential for further research in the later p art of the seventeenth century. century. Matter and motion were used by Descartes to explain every natural process by means of mechanical models, even though he did not put a stamp of finality on his theory. They provided merely the "most likely models" which seemed quite plausible if you try to apply basic laws of nature!
Buffon’s Collision Theory “Planets were formed as a result of a head collision between a comet and the sun.”
-on
Buffon’s career centered on a single enormous project: an encyclopedia he called
Histoire Naturelle, which he planned to contain everything known in his day about the natural world. (Buffon only managed to publish 36 out of his projected 50 volumes before he died.) To create it, he was able to draw on his own astonishing expertise, which ranged from astronomy to botany, as well as the knowledge of experts he consulted. But in writing his encyclopedia he did not merely parrot the opinions of others. Instead, he tried to explain all of the facts he amassed with overarching theories about the planet and its inhabitants. He surmised that the planets were formed as a result of a head-on collision between a comet and the sun. Chunks of matter were splashed out of the sun during the collision and these chunks then condensed to form the planets.
Kant-Laplace Nebular Theory “The solar system began as a cloud of dispersed particles.” In 1775, the famous German Philosopher and forerunner of evolutionism, Immanuel Kant, although highly versed in neither physics nor mathematics, anonymously published his views on origin of Earth, later coined as nebular hypothesis. There in he advanced his belief that hard particles of matter collided with one another by gravitational attraction, and generated heat and rotation in this process. Kant’s central idea that the solar system began as a cloud of dispersed particles was further developed and articulated by French astronomer Pierre-Simon Laplace in his 1796 book Système du monde ("The System of the World"). In his modification, he let the planets to be formed before the Sun. Although first the telescopic discovery of 'gas nebulas' in space by the great English observational astronomer William Hershel was interpreted as persuasive evidence for the Kant-Laplace nebular hypothesis.
Jean-Jeffreys Tidal Theory “The solar system is the result of a close encounter between the Sun and a second star” James Jeans and Harold Jeffreys, explained the origin of the solar system as a result of a close encounter between the Sun and a second star. However, it differed significantly from the other major catastrophic hypothesis of the 20th century, the Chamberlin-Moulton planetesimal hypothesis. As a result of a detailed mathematical analysis, Jeans concluded in 1916 that the tidal interaction between the Sun and a passing star would raise tides on the Sun resulting in the loss of a single cigar-shaped filament of hot gas, rather than separate streams of gas as in the Chamberlin and Moulton scenario. This hot gas would then condense directly into the planets instead of going through a planetesimal stage. The central section of the "cigar" would give rise to the largest planets – Jupiter and Saturn – while the tapering ends would provide the substance for the smaller worlds. This model had important repercussions for the possibility of life elsewhere in the universe because if planetary systems came about only as a result of freak stellar encounters, there would be relatively few extrasolar worlds to provide biological platforms. In his 1923 lecture "The Nebular Hypothesis and Modern Cosmogony, Jeans said: “Astronomy does not know whether or not life is important in the scheme of things, but she begins to whisper that life must necessarily be somewhat rare. ” By the late 1920s, this opinion was shared by many astronomers. However, in 1935, Henry Norris Russell raised what would become fatal objections to the Jeans-Jeffreys hypothesis. He pointed out that it was hard to s ee how a close stellar encounter could leave the Sun, which is a thousand times more massive than the planets, with such a tiny share of the solar system's angular momentum. Furthermore, he could not understand how the planets could condense out of hot material ejected from the Sun. The former objection was put into stronger form by Russell himself in 1943, while the latter was strengthened by Russell's student, Lyman Spitzer, in 1939.
Solar Nebular Theory “The solar system formed from a nebula about 4.5 billion years ago.” The solar nebular hypothesis describes the formation of our solar system from a nebula cloud made from a collection of dust and gas. It is believed that the sun, planets, moons, and asteroids were formed around the same time around 4.5 billion years ago from a nebula. It's believed that before our solar system was formed 4.5 billion years ago, a nebula, which is an interstellar cloud of gas and dust, was present in our location. As gravity does with everything, it began to condense the gas into varying regions of density. The denser regions began to grow into clumps of matter, which, over the course of time, would be the seeds for the formation of our sun, planets, and moons. As gravity condensed the gas, rotation of the gas increased, spreading the gas cloud into a rotating disk that would form the plane of the solar system as we know it today. Evidence of this can be seen because all of the planets revolve around the sun in the same plane and direction. The center of the disk of spinning gas experienced the least amount of centripetal force, which allowed a majority of mass from the nebula cloud to be attracted to the center by the force of gravity. In fact, 99.85% of all the mass in the solar system is in the sun. As gravity compacted the material in the sun, mostly hydrogen gas, pressure began to increase and heat the gas. About 4.5 billion years ago, the mass reached a critical point, and the hydrogen at the center was under so much pressure that it fused with another hydrogen atom, creating helium. This fusion was the birth of our star, the sun.
Planetesimals, which were early planets, began to grow in size from the clumps of matter and slam into each other as they revolved around the early forming sun. The theory of how our moon was formed lines up with this. It's believed that during the early formation of our solar system, a young Earth and an object about the size of Mars collided, sending debris into space and reforming within Earth's gravity and forming the moon.
References Jozef Rohacek (1936). Evolucionizmus vo svetle pravdy alebo čo má každý vzdelaný človek vedieť o evolucionizme (Evolutionism in the light of truth or what should every literate person know about evolutionism) (in Slovak). Bratislava, now Slovakia: Svetlo, Library of Blue Cross, 9-10, 48-9. “Kantova evolučná theoria vo svetle Biblie. ... Ale už aj pri týchto vedeckých poznatkoch badať veci, ktoré nedovoľujú len tak smele usudzovať z niekoľkých známych faktov na neznáme, jako to vidíme aj u Uranových mesiacov. Človek z piatich, šiestich alebo neviem z koľkých príkladov usudzuje: Všetky nebeské telesá našej slnečnej sústavy točia sa od západu na východ, a už je aj zákon hotový, len keď tu razom zbadá, že Uranove mesiace sa vymykajú zpod toho pravidla a točia sa opačným smerom.” Kant-Laplace nebular hypothesis. Retrieved on 12 July 2015. Origin of the Earth: The Gaseous Theory Of Kant. Paniroti.com (31 July 2013). Retrieved on 18 June 2015. “The famous German Philosopher, Immanuel Kant who anonymously published his views in 1755 was the real profounder of the nebular hypothesis. Kant introduced the Newtonian law of gravitation in his theory. He believed that the hard particles of supernaturally created matter collided with one another by gravitational a ttraction, and generated he at and rotation in this process. In this way the original static and cold matter was converted into a nebula (cast hot gaseous mass) rotating with such great rapidity that strong centrifugal force was created about equatorial plane. This led to the throwing off of successive gings of matter. The rings condensed into planets. What remained of the original nebula became the sun. The planets underwent similar spinning and threw off rings, which became their satellites.” E.J. Larson (2006). Evolution: The Remarkable History of a Scientific Theory. New York: Modern Library, 33-34. ISBN 0-8129-6849-2. "Old Earth, Ancient Life: Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon" .Understanding Evolution. University of California Museum of Paleontology. 05 July 2016 http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/history_06 http://descartes.cyberbrahma.com/vortex.html http://www.revolvy.com/main/index.php?s=Descartes%27%20vortex%20theory&item_type=topic http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/reference-entries/40421883/collision-theories-planetary-formation-18th-century-astronomy http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/J/JeansJefftidal.html
