Question

Why do you think the outer planets are larger and more gaseous than the inner planets? Is this typical of other solar systems that are being discovered by the Kepler Telescope? Give some examples to support your answer.

Answer 1

The inner planets are much smaller than the outer planets and because of this have relatively low gravity and were not able to attract large amounts of gas to their atmospheres.The temperature of the early solar system explains why the inner planets are rocky and the outer ones are gaseous. As the gases coalesced to form a protosun, the temperature in the solar system rose. In the inner solar system temperatures were as high as 2000 K, while in the outer solar system it was as cool as 50 K. In the inner solar system, only substances with very high melting points would have remained solid. All the rest would have vaoprized. So the inner solar system objects are made of iron, silicon, magnesium, sulfer, aluminum, calcium and nickel. Many of these were present in compounds with oxygen. There were relatively few elements of any other kind in a solid state to form the inner planets.No,these solar systems were not discovered by  the Kepler Telescope. The inner planets (in order of distance from the sun, closest to furthest) are Mercury,Venus, Earth and Mars and the outer planets are , Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune which are more gaseous than the inner planet.