Writing prompts – chapter 4. Write 200 words on one of the following five writing prompts (just select 1)
Under construction
1. Describe the sequence of discoveries that led to the nebular hypothesis and the protoplanetary disk hypothesis (Section 4-2): History.
Immanuel Kant in the 18th century
Laplace and Herschel in the early 19th century
Von Weiszacker during World War II
The confirmation of the protoplanetary disk hypothesis by spectral data and the Hubble Space Telescope
2. Describe the process of protoplanetary disk formation (Section 4-3): Natural Science.
3. Describe how Brad Hanson from UCLA and Lauren Weiss from University of Montreal used different approaches to show that the architecture of the solar system is unusual (Section 2-6). Describe how both theoretical and observational research are both important parts of the scientific process: Perspective of a Natural Scientist.
4. Describe how the ALMA telescope detects disk characteristics and even chemicals (Sections 4-1 and 4-4 ): Science
5. Discuss possible causes of what appear to be two independent populations of planets in the solar system, small inner terrestrial planets and large outer Jovian planets (Sections 4-5, 4-6 and 4E (optional)): Metaphysics.