1. Gravitational Collapse: The solar system formed from a giant cloud of gas and dust. This cloud began to collapse under its own gravity. As the cloud contracted, it spun faster, and most of the material was pulled towards the center.
2. Nuclear Fusion: At the center of this collapsing cloud, the pressure and temperature became incredibly high. This triggered nuclear fusion, where hydrogen atoms fuse together to form helium, releasing tremendous energy. This is what makes the Sun shine.
3. Mass Concentration: The energy released by nuclear fusion pushed away most of the remaining gas and dust, leaving behind a small amount of material to form the planets. The Sun, with its constant fusion process, retained the vast majority of the original cloud's mass.
In essence:
* The Sun formed first and gained most of the mass from the collapsing cloud.
* The Sun's gravity dominated the system, preventing much material from forming into larger bodies further out.
* The planets are relatively tiny compared to the Sun because they formed from the leftover material.
This is why the Sun accounts for over 99.8% of the mass in our solar system!
