Why are the planets rotating in near the same plane and not flying about like atoms around the sun?

Question

This pattern seems to be the same in a number of celetial structures - from Saturns rings, to galaxies. I was thinking it was because the all the planets were created by the same event. Comets don't seem to move in the same plane and may not be associated with our system via the same creative event. Any info would be interesting.

Answer 1

You are correct in your supposition. If you have an aggregate mass with angular momentum in a specific plane, then that angular momentum is conserved when the stars and planets condense out of it. One thing to note about comets is that every time they approach the sun they shed mass in a specific direction, which gives them little chance of maintaining what might have been their initial orbits, in the long term. If you are comparing the orbits of planets to the orbits of electrons however; don't. They are not in the slightest bit similar.

Answer 2

The planets were created from a spinning cloud of gas. That spinning flattens the material into a disk shape.

Although people like to think of the atomic structure as being like a sun and planets, there is no comparison really. For a start, the orbiting of electrons is a picture that fits certain experimental results, nobody has ever seen it.

Also, every planet is different as chalk and cheese, whereas electrons are identical.

The atom is controlled by nuclear and electrical forces and not gravity. The nuclear forces are so relatively strong and electrons' mass so small that inertial forces that dictate the way the planets move, cannot play a part in the orbital characteristics of electrons about the nucleus.

Answer 3

Any "glob" of material in space will begin to rotate about a center of mass. The small particles will look like a cloud. Then, some particles that are larger than others will attract the smaller ones into an orbit. Over time, there will be larger clumps in orbit about a common center, and these clumps, in turn, start attracting those smaller bits in odd orbits. Eventually, the glob will evolve into a disk. From this disk, further condensing happens - to form planets, or moons.

Answer 4

It's thought that the solar system formed from a rotating disk similar to the milky way. This would put the planets into roungly the same plane and cause them to circle the sun in the same direction.

Answer 5

The rocky material that crashed into the hydrogen field that formed the solar system was cigar shaped.
As it was forced to slow down it formed a giant smoke ring.
This initial input of angular momentum was distributed among all the components,planets etc causing them to spin and flatten out like inter locking discs

Answer 6

the sun's magnetic field only wavers on one plane, the plane that all non Kuiper belt object orbit on. This magnetic field keeps all the planets on the same plane.