[meteorite-list] Meteorite from Jupiter-- uh, I mean TO Jupiter

[Chris Peterson]

It is certainly possible to devise entry scenarios where meteorites have 
unusually large velocities. But I'd maintain these are rare cases, and a 
fall such as I described (and the Noblesville) would be far more common. And 
even in the case of the two Wethersfield falls, I'm not sure we can conclude 
that the velocities were all that high. My reference for the 1971 fall says 
nothing about the meteorite "zinging around", only that it penetrated the 
roof and partially penetrated the plaster ceiling. Not unreasonable for a 
350 g stone at terminal velocity. It was the 1982 fall that bounced around 
inside, and that was 2750 g- obviously a lot higher KE even at a normal 
terminal velocity.

And in the 19th century, people had their arms (or worse) amputated 
sometimes for the most trivial of injuries, so I'm not sure what we can 
conclude about that meteorite, either.

BTW, the 2004 Berthoud (Colorado) fall (960 g) was another whirrr, thud 
event. It made a little dent in the ground, and might have been capable of 
breaking an arm. A trivial injury today, but not necessarily 150 years ago.

Chris

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


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sterling K. Webb" <sterling_k_webb at sbcglobal.net>
To: "Meteorite List" <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Wednesday, June 21, 2006 10:31 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Meteorite from Jupiter-- uh, I mean TO Jupiter


> Hi,
>
>    On the subject of small stones hitting people
> and houses). Consider WETHERSFIELD (Connecticut), a small town of  26,271 
> people (2000 census).
>    On April 8, 1971, a small energetic stone penetrated a home, zinged 
> around inside, and came to rest without hitting anybody. It was
> sufficiently energetic to penetrate a sound roof,
> 2nd floor ceiling, 2nd floor/ceiling to living
> room, and bounce off several surfaces, damaging
> them, before stopping. Obviously, it could have
> caused considerable damage to an unprotected human, like the Garza stone 
> in PARK FOREST (Illinois) could have done.
>
>    Ok, ok, this sort of thing happens, even in Wethersfield. Almost worth 
> the brief attention you get. I can imagine calling your insurance agent, 
> "You want to report -- what? ASTEROID damage?!"
>    Then, on November 8, 1982, a small energetic stone penetrated ANOTHER 
> home in Wethersfield in the SAME neighborhood, zinged around inside, and 
> came to rest without hitting anybody, about an half a mile away from the 
> first home! Both stones were both L6's, of similar compositions (but 
> different exposure ages). Coincidence or leprachauns?
>
>    Historically, there are a great number of accounts, many of hits 
> directly on human beings, besides the poor Alabama lady, who only got a 
> really colorful and painful bruise after the meteorite holed the house!.
>    A Swedish man was struck by a meteorite in the arm. The arm was so 
> damaged that it had to be amputated!
> The (preserved) arm, by the way, is buried with him, but nobody knows what 
> became of the stone. This case occurred in the nineteenth century but was 
> unknown
> outside of Sweden until this century, and was investigated
> by Sky & Telescope magazine, but I can't find the year...
>
>    On the other hand, consider The NOBLESVILLE (Indiana) stone that is the 
> classic close approach fall case, perfect in every detail: "The stone 
> passed two witnesses, Brodie Spaulding and Brian Kinzie, who observed it 
> land 3.56m in front of them on the lawn in front of a house. No light or 
> sound except for the whirring sound as it passed and the thud in the 
> ground was noticed. It is an oriented specimen with well-developed flight 
> markings, weight 483.7g." Just after dusk on a perfect midwestern summer 
> night, two boys are standing talking in the front yard in the new hush of 
> evening, when... Whirrr. Thud.
>
>    According to the report, this 1 pound plus stone didn't
> even dent the soft soil. Obviously, it would NOT have taken the arm off of 
> one of the two hapless teenagers if it had
> struck them, whereas the damage to the Swedish man
> was reported to be as if he had been struck by a small
> cannon shot or several close musket shots.
>
>    The velocity, hence energy, of a small stone varies
> considerably. The Noblesville report of whirring indicates
> that the stone was in rapid rotary motion, interacting aerodynamically, 
> and was engaged in a kind of "flight" or glide that retarded it.
>
>    Every small fall is different.
>
>
> Sterling K. Webb