Question

Which of the following statements about the solar system is false?

1. the outer planets are composed mainly of volatile materials whereas the inner planets are composed mainly of rocky materials because temperature decreases with increasing distance from the sun
2. the inner planets are small compared to the outer planets because the inner planets are made of elements that are comparatively rare in the universe and difficult to form
3. the planets in the solar system are thought to have formed by a process of accretion
4. the solar system is thought to have formed in the immediate aftermath of the Big Bang
5. the material that today makes up the solar system is thought originally to have broken off from one of the spiral, rotating arms of the Milky Way galaxy

Answer 1

The false statement is that the solar system formed in the immediate aftermath of the Big Bang. The solar system was formed from a solar nebula 4.5 billion years ago, long after the Big Bang, with inner planets made of rocky materials and outer planets consisting of volatile materials due to the temperature gradient from the Sun.

Step-by-step explanation:

The statement about the solar system that is false is that 'the solar system is thought to have formed in the immediate aftermath of the Big Bang'. Our solar system formed approximately 4.5 billion years ago from a rotating cloud of vapor and dust, known as the solar nebula, which was not immediately after the Big Bang. This event actually occurred roughly 9 billion years after the Big Bang, which took place about 13.7 billion years ago. The formation of the solar system is consistent with the observation of circumstellar disks around other stars, hinting at similar processes of planet formation elsewhere in the universe.

The inner planets, including most of the asteroids, are made of rock and metal, surviving the high temperatures closer to the Sun, while the outer planets and their moons, along with comets and icy dwarf planets, are mainly composed of ice and gas due to the cooler conditions farther from the Sun. The large gas giants like Jupiter and Saturn have dense cores and are surrounded by layers of hydrogen and helium, holding onto the gas present at the time of their formation, hence indicating the composition of the solar nebula from which the solar system formed.