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Meteorites: stones and lumps of iron from space . . .

Meteorites: stones and lumps of iron from space. Donahue home, Weatherfield, CT Nov 8, 1982. Clearwater Lakes. Manicouagan Reservoir. Meteor Crater, AZ. New Quebec. Every day the Earth is bombarded by literally millions of meteors

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Meteorites: stones and lumps of iron from space . . .

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  1. Meteorites: stones and lumps of iron from space . . . Donahue home, Weatherfield, CT Nov 8, 1982

  2. Clearwater Lakes

  3. Manicouagan Reservoir

  4. Meteor Crater, AZ New Quebec

  5. Every day the Earth is bombarded by literally millions of meteors per day (some estimate as many as 25 million). Only a very few of these are large enough to survive the intense heat of entry into our atmosphere. The remainder, usually between the size of a grain of sand and a pea, evaporates completely. Total mass collected by Earth each day: about 300 tons of material.

  6. But if you stop and think about it, much like water will condense back into a liquid form after evaporation, so too will the evaporated iron (and other minerals) which make up the meteorites condense into tiny droplets after cooling. In solid form, these "micrometeorites" then fall to Earth. SEQUENCE OF EVENTS: • Iron-type meteorite vaporizes in upper atmosphere • The iron vapor condenses in tiny droplets. • The droplets solidify. • The tiny, solid spheres fall to the ground. • There they lie, unnoticed, unless a student passes a magnet near their resting place. Then the micrometeorite will cling to the magnet.

  7. This is an image of a micrometeorite that was found in the parking lot next to Dr. Mike Briley's office in Halsey Science Center at U-Wisconsin Oshkosh. Its actual size is much smaller (barely visible to the naked eye) and it has been blown up 150 times by an electron microscope.

  8. Micrometeorites are everywhere! If you want to find some for yourself, all you need is a magnet, a little plastic bag, and a low-power dissecting microscope. • Go outside to an open/flat area (parking lots work well) and sweep the magnet along the ground. You are most interested in low areas, where runoff from rain will wash micrometeorites to one place. • Once you've got a bunch of "junk" stuck to the magnet, store it in the baggie. • Go inside and look at the debris under the microscope. • If you look carefully (and you're lucky) you'll find a few small shiny spheres: micrometeorites! • Goal: isolate and collect at least one micrometeorite. Use small squares of white paper, transparent tape, and a sharp pencil to push the micrometeorite around.

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