[meteorite-list] Biophysicist confirms Liberal boy's meteorite discovery

[Michael Fowler]

Hi Jason etc.

How to explain a foot deep hole?  You missed my point.  Maybe it is not a foot deep!  First, a 10 year old boy might no have a very good idea of how much a foot is, or he may be exaggerating.  Second, you have to trust that the news media got it right.   Can you count on that?

I don't stand by anything, just offering an alternative hypothesis.  Time will tell.

Mike Fowler

> Mike, All, 
> Two problems - 1) how do you explain the foot-deep hole? It's one 
> thing to exaggerate a thumping sound, but a hole tends to be pretty 
> tangible evidence. Either there is a foot-deep hole or there isn't. 
> Someone should go check, perhaps... 
> 2) Check out the odds. Even if it were a meteorite, the odds that 
> this fall would be an iron are akin to one in a hundred (as opposed to 
> its being a stone). Beyond that, take a look at the iron - it looks 
> to be identical to one of the most common iron falls on the market. 
> Ridiculously rare fall (it happened during the Leonids, no less, with 
> no observations of a fireball), or easy-to-stage hoax. 
> I stand by what I said before. 
> Jason 
> 
> On Thu, Nov 19, 2009 at 9:54 AM, Michael Fowler <mqfowler at mac.com> wrote: 
> 
> > Meteorite Hoax, or meteorite exaggeration? 
> 
> > 
> 
> > As a meteorite hoax, it is missing many of the classic symptoms, no flaming trail, no red hot iron at the bottom of the hole etc. 
> 
> > 
> 
> > Let me propose an alternate explanation:  The size of the hole and the material shooting 5 feet high was an exaggeration, but it actually is a real fall. 
> 
> > 
> 
> > Mike Fowler 
> 
> > Chicago 
> 
> > 
> 
> > 
> 
> >> Graham, All, 
> 
> >> Exactly what I was thinking when I saw the iron - well, that and think 
> 
> >> about it - a 47g meteorite just made a foot-deep crater, sending 
> 
> >> material five feet into the air? 
> 
> >> The whole story is ridiculous - such a stone should have made a little 
> 
> >> dent in the ground (we're talking a inch or two) - it wouldn't be 
> 
> >> unremarkable if someone standing fifteen feet away didn't notice it 
> 
> >> fall, or simply assumed someone had thrown a rock at them. 
> 
> >> This sounds like another sensationalist looking for their moment of fame. 
> 
> >> Bah. 
> 
> >> Jason 
> 
> 
> >> On Thu, Nov 19, 2009 at 3:34 AM, <ensoramanda at ntlworld.com> wrote: 
> 
> >> 
> 
> >> > Hi All, 
> 
> 
> >> > Strange....as there is all this talk at the moment about fresh iron 'fusion crust' then this does not look like a fresh iron fall but just like one of the treated sikhote alins I just mentioned in my last post!!! 
> 
> 
> 
> >> > Dubious! 
> 
> 
> >> > Graham 
> 
> 
> 
> >> > ---- Meteorites USA <eric at meteoritesusa.com> wrote: 
> 
> 
> 
> >> >> http://www.hutchnews.com/Localregional/spacerock 
> 
>>