[meteorite-list] Water in space

[Chris Peterson]

It depends on what form the water is in. In the case of meteorites, surely 
it is in various hydrates. It is far easier to dry out a meteorite in the 
vacuum of space than it is on the Earth, wouldn't you agree? So if the 
bonding of water in the hydrates is strong enough to prevent the former, 
certainly it is strong enough to prevent the latter, also. That kind of 
water storage is quite different from the sponge effect you observed, which 
is probably simple capturing of liquid by capillary action in a porous 
structure. Storage in hydrates is likely to be quite stable; storage as 
liquid is not.

Chris

*****************************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tom Knudson" <peregrineflier at npgcable.com>
To: <Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>; <bernd.pauli at paulinet.de>
Sent: Tuesday, May 31, 2005 2:22 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Water in space


> Okay, there is water in space.
> "CI carbonaceous chondrites ... contain the highest percentage of water
> - 20 percent - of any carbonaceous meteorite. When heated in a closed
> container, the water is easily driven off and condenses on the side of
> the enclosing vessel."
>
> Next logical question, how could a meteorite be on earth more than a day 
> or
> two and not have it's water evaporated?  Then, how does it not soak up
> terrestrial moisture?
>   I once cut an Allende and soaked it in Alcohol.  When I took it out of
> the alcohol, I let it air dry for a few minutes and then I weighed the
> slices, recorded the weights and put them under the heat lamp.  A few days
> later, I was sorting out the slices by weight and freaked out, all my
> weights were off by a tenth of a gram. I figured out the missing weight 
> was
> the alcohol. To test it, I resoaked a slice and got the original weight 
> and
> weighed it over the next few hours and it returned to it's lesser weight.
>  So I concluded, Allendes make great sponges and I make sure they are dry
> before weighing them.
>  It sure makes me wonder how they could keep space water in them if they
> were not picked up immediately after the fall?