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Re: (meteorobs) Hot meteors and self heating metal powders.
Following up and refining on my previously posted hypothetical mechanism
whereby meteorites could become incandescent in the lower atmosphere.
Nickel in a fine powder form is spontaneously inflammable in air(pyrophoric)
becoming incandescent in the process of oxidation. Finely divided iron is
readily inflammable if ignited.
Is it possible that some meteors could contain losely consolidated fine
particles of nickel and iron derived from cosmic dust particles from the
primaeval solar nebula which have not undergone any melting before being
consolidated into the meteor particles? Do any meteorites contain micron
sized particles of nickel or iron?
Meteors containing or composed of nickel dust loosely consolidated into a
porous mass either alone or admixed with iron and carbonaceous material
could generate enough heat through oxidation to achieve incandescence when
in the oxygen rich lower atmosphere. Such oxidation would probably result in
the complete disintegration of the meteorite thus explaining why no
meteorite is found assosciated with such reports. Combustion of finely
divided iron could also produce sparking another feature of reports of hot
meteors.
Any comments would be gratefully received for this hypothesis. Going for it
is that it is based on known chemical processes and it does not require the
meteorite to retain heat from the kinetic heating stage of its flight.
Nick Martin, Bonnyton House, By Ayr, Ayrshire KA6 7EW ,Scotland, UK.
Latitude 55 24'56" Longitude 4 26' 00".
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