(meteorobs) Identifying Micrometeorites
Wayne Watson
sierra_mtnview at earthlink.net
Wed Feb 9 06:54:08 EST 2005
A young student brought some metal particles into a friend's science class
last week that he and his grandfather had collected from a gutter. After
putting the samples under a microscope, there were many that had the
spherical shape one would expect of a micrometeorite. So my friend and I
thought we'd try our hand at it and tried two other sources, nearby
buildings. We found some but not nearly as many as the student's efforts.
It seems a bit odd that the distribution would be skewed to one location.
However, it may be explainable.
It's quite possible that what we are seeing might be something else, for
example, beads from welding. If we continue to find similar beads, then it
seems less likely the material is from welding. Is there an easy way to
identify them as meteoric in origin? I have one way of doing this, and that
is to send them to a meteorite lab in New Mexico. However, I'm wondering if
there's a simple test for them?
While I'm at it, I'll ask if there is an adapter that I can get for a SLR
that allows me to attach my camera to a microscope. I tried using my
SLR/eyepiece adapter to the teacher's microscope, but the barrel is
probably 1.2" in diameter. Just a little too small.
--
Wayne T. Watson (Watson Adventures, Prop., Nevada City, CA)
(121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N) GMT-8 hr std. time)
Obz Site: 39° 15' 7" N, 121° 2' 32" W, 2700 feet
Web Page: <home.earthlink.net/~mtnviews>
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