Conditions inside a protoplanetary disc

[Galexy]

Summary:: Conditions inside a protoplanetary disc.

I have just finished writing a fictional story that takes place inside a protoplanetary disc. Now I think I should determine how realistic it is.

My question -- Somewhere in a typical PP disc, the gas pressure would be in the range of one Barr. How hot would it be at that level? Also, how close to the newly forming star would the one Barr level be?
My story takes place at this location, so is there any chance that the temperature would be tolerable for a spaceship (or an exposed human)? How outlandish is that?

I have looked at all kinds of research papers describing the theoretical physical conditions inside a PP disc. I just can't make any sense of them.

Thanks

 

[Melbourne Guy]

Congrats on finishing your story, @Galexy, but didn't you ask about protoplanetary disc conditions in a recent-ish post?

https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/atmospheric-pressure-inside-a-protoplanetary-disc.1009282/

If I recall, the answer was we generally don't know enough to make or break a sci-fi story in terms of realism. Also, if you've completed the story, would you rework it if someone was able to show conditions are not as you have described them? What would that do to your narrative? And why does it matter? Science fiction has latitude not to be real, the point is to use imaginative situations like yours to explore some aspect of the human condition. If you're sufficiently satisfied with your story, why change it?

 

[Galexy]

Yes, you're right! I did post this question before - and I forgot completely!
Thanks for answering both my posts.
I was a fan of the old-style science fiction, before fantasy sci-fi took over. I was trying to write something that bent as few laws of physics as possible. Looks like I only partially succeeded.
Chances are, you won't find my story at your local book seller anytime soon. (LOL)

 

[Melbourne Guy]

Chances are, you won't find my story at your local book seller anytime soon. (LOL)

Amazon Kindle is DIY, @Galexy and very easy to use. I've even mastered creating paperback and hard cover versions, and sold a few as well. I'm not on the local bookshop either, not yet at least, but maybe someday...

 

[Rive]

Somewhere in a typical PP disc, the gas pressure would be in the range of one Barr.

I think that's too high to be realistic. The volume of the disc is so huge that with that pressure you'd get too much material.
Maybe you could start with adding up the mass of the planets in our solar system and make an estimate about the average density... My guess is that it'll be kind of zero-ish.

To have that pressure on already forming proto-planets might be OK, though. But that means gravity is already in place.