[meteorite-list] Temperature of meteorites

[Mark Grossman]

Hi,

Ursula Marvin has attributed many of the reports of hot stones with a 
sulphurous smell to a "fire and brimstone" expectation on the part of the 
observers, especially for the older historic falls.  She notes that the 
reports of hot stones still exist - primarily due to what observers think a 
meteorite should be like when it is recovered - but the sulphurous smell 
seems to have subsided.  She references a 1974 paper by Sears.  See D.W. 
Sears, 'Why did meteorites lose their smell?', Journal of the British 
Astronomical Association 84 (1974), 299-300.

See Marvin's chapter "Meteorites in History" in The History of Meteoritics 
and Key Meteorite Collections: Fireballs, Falls and Finds, G.J.H. McCall, A. 
J. Bowden and R. J. Howarth editors (Geological Society, London: 2007), 
15-71.  Her reference to the hot and sulphurous stones is on page 54.

Mark

Mark Grossman
Briarcliff Manor, NY