(meteorobs) Fw: [meteorite-list] hot meteorites

"Ed Majden" <epmajden@home.com> · Wed, 14 Feb 2001 14:34:40 -0800



>     Thought this may be of interest.
>
> Ed
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Donald Blakeslee <blakesle@twsuvm.uc.twsudot edu>
> To: <meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, February 14, 2001 1:40 PM
> Subject: [meteorite-list] hot meteorites
>
>
> > In an earlier post, someone mention John Lewis' book that lists
meteorites
> > said to have sarted fires.  I checked it out and find some of his cases
> > credible and some not. He lists 19 meteorites said to have started fires
> or
> > to have been very hot, and he mentions another three in the text, for a
> > total of 22 cases.
> >
> > Five are reported by Yau et al. from early Chinese documents.  The
> accounts
> > date from AD 476 to 1504.  While there are no stones or irons to examine
> > today, four of the accounts make clear that a stone or iron did fall
from
> > the sky.
> >
> > Another said to have fallen in the Punjab in 1620, was reported only in
> > 1808. Since the accoutn says it was made into knives and swords, it is
> > clear that the object was an iron.
> >
> > Another early atory that seems pretty convincing is from Jamaica in
1700.
> > A Doctor Henry Barnham investigated a fireball and found several impact
> > holes around which the grass had been burned.  He also smelled something
> > like sulfur.  I have seen the portion of his account that mentions the
> > holes in another history of meteoritics, with, I think, the part about
the
> > burned grass omitted.  Barnham wrote the account in 1718, so it didn't
> > occur to him to did into the holes to see what he could find.
> >
> > Several others also fell before the modern understanding of meteorites
> > developed.  One reported in France in 1769 was said to have punctured
the
> > wood of a barn and to have set its contents afire.  She hole in a wooden
> > plank gives it some credibility, given that people generally did not
make
> > the connection between meteors and falling rocks at that time.
> >
> > Three supposed falls in 1769, 1800 and 1801, do not have any reference
to
> a
> > stone or iron in the descriptions.  But in 1803, The White Bull tavern
was
> > struck by something that knocked down the chimney, and a grass fire
> ensued.
> >  But did the meteorite (if there was one) ignite the fire, or was it the
> > ashes and cinders from the chimney?
> >
> > All of the later cases, from 1835 on, fall into the era when people
would
> > have tried to collect the meteorite.  Yet of the remaining cases, only a
> > few yielded objects for study.  One (Kirkland, Washington, 1955) is a
> > clear-cut case of fraud, according to Buchwald.  Another (Kochi, Japan,
> > 1949) was merely described as hot.  It is listed as questionable in the
> > 1985 Catalogue.
> >
> > Another, described as a 4 pound iron that fell at Stratford, Texas, and
> > started a grass fire in 1933, is not listed in the Catalogue.  It
appears
> > to be another of those "hot meteorite" stories that didn't pan out.
> > Indeed, in Lewis' list, the least reliable source seems to be the New
York
> > Times, which reported stories on what have turned out to be
non-meteorites
> > (i.e., no object ever came to light) in Bellefontaine, Ohio (1907);
> > Shepard, Texas (1909); Mexico (1910); Berkshire Hills, Mass (1921); and
> the
> > Stratford, Texas story.
> >
> > At any rate, there seems to be an interesting pattern here.  The earlier
> > the account of a fire, the more credible it sems to be, because for the
> > later cases, where we know we should have meteorites to look at, they
are
> > not forthcoming.
> >
> > So how to proceed?  How many of you know of falls wheree the meteorite
was
> > collected quickly and was NOT reported to be hot.  I have run across
only
> a
> > few:
> > Drake Creek 1827 cold when freshly fallen
> > Harrison Co. 1859 described as not warm
> > Dhurmsala 1860 had frost on its surface
> > Lumpkin 1869 neither hot nor cold
> > Forest City 1890 fell on dry grass but did not char it
> >
> > I would be interested in other examples.
> >
> >
> > Don Blakeslee
> > Department of Anthropology
> > Wichita State University
> > Wichita, KS  67230-0052
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Meteorite-list mailing list
> > Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com
> > http://www.pairlistdot net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
>

To UNSUBSCRIBE from the 'meteorobs' email list, use the Web form at:
http://www.tiacdot net/users/lewkaren/meteorobs/subscribe.html