Meteorites:The rocks that just flew in!

Characteristics of meteorite

• Attraction to magnets

Almost all Meteorite are usually attracted to a magnet, as a result of the high iron and nickel content. Make sure you make use of a refrigerator magnet to see if the Meteorite will be attracted to the magnet.

• Density

Meteorites tend to feel heavier than most earth rock of the same size. The high iron and nickel content makes the Meteorite heavier while terrestrial rocks like magnetite most often do not contain nickel as Meteorite.

• Presence Of Fusion Crust

The fusion Crust makes the surface of a freshly fallen Meteorite appear black and shiny and the longer the meteorite stays on earth the fusion Crust wears away leaving the Meteorite rusty brown.

• Presence Of Metallic Flakes

Nearly all stone Meteorite contain tiny, bright metallic flakes. They are tiny pieces of extraterrestrial iron and nickel. They are usually seen after slicing off a small piece or removing a corner with a bench grinder.

The 3 Main types of Meteorites

Although there are a large number of subcategories, meteorites are divided generally into 3main groups:

1. Iron Meteorites
2. Stony Meteorites
3. Stony-irons Meteorites

Almost all meteorites contain extraterrestrial nickel and iron, and those that contain no iron in any respect are so rare that when asked for help and advice on identifying possible space rocks, we tend to typically discount anything that doesn't contain significant amounts of metal.

IRON METEORITES

Iron meteorites are composed mostly of iron and also contain tiny amounts of nickel and cobalt. Iron meteorites are very heavy and are collected more frequently than alternative kinds of meteorites. Iron meteorites are said to be once a part of the core of a long-vanished planet or massive asteroid and are believed to have originated within the belt between Mars and Jupiter, they are among the densest materials on earth and will stick very powerfully to a strong magnet, iron meteorites are far heavier than most earth rocks-if you have ever upraised up a cannonball or a slab of iron or steel, you will get the thought.

STONY METEORITES

Stony meteorites generally referred to as stone meteorites, fall to earth a lot more frequently than other types of meteorites, the largest cluster of meteorites is the stones, and that they once formed a part of the outer crust of a planet or asteroid, several stones meteorites, particularly those that are on the surface of our planet for an extended period of time frequently look very similar to terrestrial rocks, it will take a skilled eye to identify them when meteorite hunting in the field. Some stone meteorites contain tiny, colorful, grain-like inclusions called chondrules.

These small grains originated within the solar nebula, and therefore pre-date the formation of our planet and therefore the rest of the solar system, making them the oldest known matter available to us for study, stone meteorites that contain these chondrules are called chondrites space rocks without chondrites are known as achondrites. Chondrites themselves are classified into 2 major groups: ordinary and carbonaceous, standard chondrites are the most common type of stony meteorite, accounting for 86 percent of all meteorites that have fallen to Earth, they're named for the hardened droplets ofllava, called
chondrules, embedded in them.

STONY-IRON METEORITES

Stony-iron meteorites represent a rare sort of meteorite that contains both stone and iron.The Stony-Iron meteorites are made of both nickel, iron metals and stone and this cluster includes two large subgroups called the pallasites and themesosiderites.
The Pallasites are characterized by having a large portion of their mass in the form of olivine crystals with these crystals being enclosed by nickel-iron. On the other hand themesosiderites have silicate minerals found commonly in several iron meteorites however the quantity of silicates gets quite high resulting in these meteorites classified as mesosiderites.The mesosiderites are the smaller of the two stony-iron groups, they contain each nickel-iron and silicates and usually show an attractive, high-contrast silver and black matrix when cutting and polished-the seemingly random mixture of inclusions leading to some very striking features. The word mesosiderite comes from the Greek for "half" and "iron," and they are very rare, of the thousands of officially cataloged meteorites, fewer than one hundred are mesosiderites.

How fast do meteorites fall?

Meteors normally collide into the thermosphere layer of Earth's atmosphere, which is about 50 to 75miles up. If a meteor is moving particularly fast—say, around a whopping 160,000 miles per hour—it can be visible above this band; if a meteor is relatively slow-moving—at around 25,000 miles per hour—it can generally be seen at a lower altitude, the space chunks have to be slow after they enter the atmosphere at evening hours but fast during the morning, when a hurtling meteor comes into contact with the air molecules within the atmosphere, it creates friction and heats up, it will then often explode into a bolide within the atmosphere, causing a
fireball as it falls toward Earth, shortly after a large meteor streaks across the sky, a shock wave follows.

Brief Application of Meteorite

• Meteorites are used as a centerpiece for jewelry designs because they are fashionable and unique.
• Meteorites are used to treat anemia and also to strengthen blood and tissues in the body.
• Meteorites releases trusting powers that allow the wearer to increase his/her confidence level.
  

REFERENCES

What are Meteorite?
characteristics of Meteorite
The types of Meteorite
The major types of Meteorite
how fast Meteorites falls

IMAGE SOURCES

All images used here are from free sources and eligible for commercial use