If we discount dwarf planets after the asteroid belt all planets are gas, is there a specific reason or is it just coincidence
In: 2019
Trained Geologist here. I’m noticing a lot of misinformation in this thread. You’re describing the concept known as the “ice line.”
A temperature gradient exists in our solar system. It’s hotter closer to the sun, and colder farther away. The elements that comprise the rocky terrestrial planets have freezing points much much higher than the gas giants. Naturally, these were able to condense into solids much closer to the sun.
Similarly, the gas giants were only able to form once it was cool enough for relatively volatile gasses in the solar system to freeze.
In both instances, these frozen grains were slamming into one other as they orbited the sun and accreted into planetesimals. Over time these planetesimals continued to slurp up any surrounding material within their growing gravitational fields, becoming mature planets.
So in short, this is principally a consequence of the different freezing points of different materials in our solar system.
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