[meteorite-list] Magnetite/Glass Meteorite Balls

[Jerry Flaherty]

Scientificly and statistically accurate in every detail I'm sure. But when I 
brought this debris to class the next day the kids were extatic that such 
possibilities exist. That matter extraneous to our own earth might be within 
their reach. I purposely failed to tell them, though that the whole of the 
planet was made of such extraneous material cause I didn't want to dampen 
that wonderful enthusiasm.
Because I sensed that such entusiasm leads to dreams and visions that lead 
humankind toward distant horizons yet to be thought of much less seen.
I realize that this list is made up of a wide range of interests, 
backgrounds and abilities.
I present this anecdotal example as a personal experience. Holding  and 
sharing those specks gave most everyone a mind opening delight, including 
myself. Today due to List membership I've been able to acquire, to me, a 
treasure beyond price. But, but, but I still reflect on that experience as a 
trifle more enduring than all the rest.
Oh, and afterall, the suggestion to "experiment"[the use is figurative of 
course] came from no less an authority than Jack Horkiemer "Keep Looking 
Up", the great populizer of Astronomy.
We sometimes wonder why funds for the further major expoloration of SPACE 
have a habit of drying up. Why the "average" citizen could give a &*^% about 
Mars or whatever.
I understand that scientific research requires sustained focus, 
deliberation, precision and repeatable experimentation. That conclusions 
based on limited experience are dubious.
Seems I remember somewhere hearing that at one time the notion that anything 
could fall out of the sky was preposterous.
So I do like to keep an open mind to possibilities outside and inside too of 
my experience.
Science and technology are mind blowing in their contribution to our lives 
today.
But you got to have that average nondedicated person cough up the dough 
though if we'll ever see that persuit of a goal that flourished during 
Apollo period.

Jerry Flaherty
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Chris Peterson" <clp at alumni.caltech.edu>
To: "Meteorite List" <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Friday, July 13, 2007 12:05 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Magnetite/Glass Meteorite Balls


> Well, without some sort of mineralogical analysis, there's no way of 
> knowing what you had. There are pretty good models for the dust size 
> distribution in shower debris streams. Most of it is of a size that won't 
> burn at all when it encounters the Earth's atmosphere, but that size can't 
> get to the ground in less than months (and can't be seen under a hand lens 
> in any case). Large enough particles to drift down in a few hours are 
> surely rare: the total Perseid mass that actually burns up is only 
> something like 100 ug/hour/km^2. Even if none of it burned up there's no 
> way you'll find a significant amount in a small pan from one night's 
> activity.
>
> Aside from that, there's no reason to think that Perseid debris should 
> have any significant iron content.
>
> I ran a dust collector for three years. It had a collection surface of 6 
> m^2, and a water flushing system. The amount of dust collected varied 
> widely from day to day, and was uncorrelated with meteor showers. Much of 
> the dust was ferromagnetic or paramagnetic. Twice, when we had a high 
> amount of material, we examined the dust with a SEM. We were unable to 
> find any particles that showed signs of melting or otherwise resembled the 
> meteorite dust collected at high altitude. In three years, we failed to 
> conclusively identify a single micrometeorite, although we had a handful 
> of spherical particles (10-100 um) that were interesting.
>
> IMO, the dust you collected after the Perseid shower was unrelated to that 
> shower. Statistically, you can't correlate two events from a single 
> sample.
>
> Chris
>
> *****************************************
> Chris L Peterson
> Cloudbait Observatory
> http://www.cloudbait.com
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Jerry Flaherty" <grf2 at verizon.net>
> To: "Chris Peterson" <clp at alumni.caltech.edu>; "Meteorite List" 
> <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
> Sent: Friday, July 13, 2007 10:14 AM
> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Magnetite/Glass Meteorite Balls
>
>
>> Chris I beg to differ with you as personal experience during a very 
>> active Persid shower in the late 80's or early 90's produced a 
>> sterling[S] quantity of particles which jumped from beneath the water to 
>> a magnet and lent themselves to a magnificent show under a hand lens.
>> Jerry Flaherty
>
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