(meteorobs) Identifying Micrometeorites

[mark ford]

I've done this myself, dragging a magnet (in a plastic bag) through gutters and evaporated rainwater containers. With mixed results.

The technique is discussed here :
http://www.kyes-world.com/micrometeorites.htm


There are so many terrestrial contaminants that look the part, the only way to be sure is under a powerful microscope or microprobe type analysis. 


I'd love to see some photo's.

The fact that they are concentrated in one place might mean there is a terrestrial source such as a rusting roof antenna bracket dropping rust grains into the rain water for example.




Best

Mark Ford


-----Original Message-----
From: Wayne Watson [mailto:sierra_mtnview at earthlink.net] 
Sent: Wednesday, February 09, 2005 11:54 AM
To: meteorobs at meteorobs.org
Subject: (meteorobs) Identifying Micrometeorites

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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