Solar System Origins: Angular Momentum Problem?

  • #1
eliot6492
1
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Hi guys,

This is basically a quick question to hopefully find some pointers on a topic I've been browsing the internet on to not much success. Basically the topic I'm trying to find more information on is the angular momentum problem with the "nebular hypothesis" of the formation of our solar system..(that being that whilst the sun makes up almost 99.9% of the solar systems mass it only accounts for around 1% of its total angular momentum). If I'm not mistaken the primitive theory that the solar system formed from a nebular predicts that the angular momentum held by each body should roughly conform to their mass proportions, thus making this a fundamental flaw in the theory.

Basically I've been scanning the internet trying to find the eventual solutions to this issue but everything I come across seems either vague or difficult to find further information on. I was hoping that someone more informed on this particular issue might be able to point me in the direction of the current leading explanation(s), who is responsible for them, any texts/articles that I might read about them on and if possible a simple explanation.

I'm a third year physics undergraduate so do have a decent understanding of many basic aspects of physics(understand most technical terms etc).

Thanks in advance

Eliot
 
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  • #2
Do you mean the sum of the local angular momentums of each body or the angular momentum of the solar system as a whole? If the latter, then personally I would be astounded were it otherwise since the sun is all very close to the center of mass of the solar system (basically it IS the center of mass) but other objects are WAY farther out and so contribute more relative to their mass because of their distance.
 
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