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Re: (meteorobs) Hot Meteorite
In a message dated 4/13/01 1:22:45 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
ecannon@mail.utexasdot edu writes:
<< I know it would be rare, but in certain cases when bolides
explode in the lower atmosphere, it would seem to be possible
for larger fragments to reach the ground while still hot or at
least warm. In order for it to explode, wouldn't the bolide
have to be significantly permeated by heat? Also, the
fragments would fall only relatively short distances of a few
thousand meters rather than tens of kilometers. >>
I disagree - remember the guy in the story had two pot holders and had to
put the meteorite down 3X because of the heat. The meteorite, Sikhote Alin
from Siberia, exploded low in the atmoshere. We know this beacuse there are
many "shrapnel" specimens about (I have one). It is called shrapnel beacuse
all the pieces are jagged from the explosion. Since the jagged edges didn't
reheat and melt to a smooth edge in my opinion even the low atmoshere
"exploders" (is that a word?) hits the ground cool.
<< Obviously one other necessary combination of factors is that the event be
witnessed and the witnesses reach the impact site very rapidly -- a rare
but not impossible scenario, it seems to me. >>
I have video tape from Japan (1996 I think?) where two students actually
filmed a fireball coming in. They ran to the site and actually found a
meteorite alongside the road. The tape shows them handling the specimen with
no mention of it being hot. They also video taped the crater and area - there
was no sign of burnt grass or any other evidence of the meteorite being hot.
My personal opinion is that the hot meteorite story is an old wives tale that
refuses to go away.
Kevin K
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