[meteorite-list] non magnetic meteorites-Copper Meteorite

From: Steve Schoner <steve_schoner_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:13:09 2004
Message-ID: <20030424162306.88075.qmail_at_web12702.mail.yahoo.com>

--- "E.L. Jones" <jonee_at_epix.net> wrote:
> Yes HH Nininger did have someone bring him a copper
> blob which was
> recovered "warm" etc. I recall that someone many
> years later made a
> convincing report that this "copper meteorite"--
> while recovered warm,
> was actually a certain failed bearing/bushing from a
> Ford Trimotor
> airplane engine. `Twas based on alloy composition
> and similar failures.

Humm,

I remember that argument, and I think in the lists I
brought it up, some years ago.

And I can't remember what the exact argument was, but
the contraindication at the time was that airplanes
were not that common, and one flying in that area
would have created a great deal of interest.

People would have gone outdoors to see it, and there
were no indications that there was an plane fly over
at the time.

I imagine that if a engine on such lost a bearing, it
would have been evident. People in the area would
have taken notice, that one engine would have shut
down.

I remember talking to Nininger about this one, and he
was uncertian about it, but he told me that there was
no airplanes reported by anyone in the area at the
supposed time of the fall.

He did mention to me that copper, though very rare, is
not unknown in some stone meteorites, and I think that
he said the "Melrose" (sp) meteorite of New Mexico was
one example where he found native copper grains.

Nininger was not sure about Eaton, but based on what
he saw in the Melrose (sp?) Meteorite, he was not
willing to rule it out.

And I remember saying that if one could find where
this mass was at the time that I spoke with him,
sometime in the '70's, if it is still preserved, a
comparison with the chemistry of known native copper
nodules found in meteorites would shed some light on
the question. I think he said that the mass was sold
to ASU in the collection that they now have.

And if it is there today, maybe a comparison of the
Eaton mass with the coppper composition of the Melrose
(sp?) Meteorite or bearing material used on Ford
trimotors would shed definitive light on the question.

Steve Schoner
http://www.geocities.com/meteorite_identification
http://www.geocities.com/american_meteorite_survey




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Received on Thu 24 Apr 2003 12:23:06 PM PDT