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Re: (meteorobs) Re: micro-meteorites experiment



 Sounds like a great experiment!  I am a long term experimenter and data
>collector myself.  
>
>I hope get to Albuquerque soon where the Institute of Meteoritics is
>located and have a longer talk with the dust professor there. I will try
>and write a report to the list if this happens.  If anyone has any specific
>questions I will be happy to present them. 
> 
>Tom Ashcraft   New Mexico 
>

I have never looked into this sort of study but how can an analysis of dust
collected at a point on the surface of the Earth be considered reliable ?

How can meteoric dust be distinguished from terrestrial materials -
including synthetic/industrial stuff ?

How long does the dust take to migrate to the surface ?

Does the dust alter along the way ?  (oxidize, hydrate )

How is the dust dispersed by the wind ?  Would circulation patterns
consistently create an accumulation bias ?

Is it possible to distinguish between "fresh" dust and meteoric dust that
has already been deposited and then re-introduced into the atmosphere by
storms (especially in the southwest US) ?

Does the collecting technique produce a bias as to the type of dust
collected (i.e. silicate vs. metallic) ?

As a teacher looking for interesting projects for students (and me) to do I
would be interested in knowing how productive, expensive, time consuming and
accurate this sort of research would be.   And, of course, it would be great
if such a study (by supervised students) could actually contribute to some
scientific endeavor.

An interesting study...  I look forward to your future contributions to
meteorobs.
 
__________________________________________________________________________
Stan  Celestian
Glendale Community College
6000 West Olive
Glendale Arizona   85302
Phone:  602 435-3681