[meteorite-list] Yet another Elma Material update

From: Steve Schoner <steve_schoner_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:16:34 2004
Message-ID: <20030816141754.15944.qmail_at_web12708.mail.yahoo.com>

Ball lighting, that is what this is.

Just as the Russian scientist said, "Geometeorite"
event (ball lighting).

And the glass sinters were produced when the ball
touched the ground and exploded.

This kind of event "could" explain why the persistant
notion that meteors fall buring all the way to the
ground.

Hot rocks that burn fingers.

Chunks of slag that are not meteorites...

humm...

It is something to investigate, for ball lighting is a
"meteor" event in the broadest sense of the term.

There is nothing wrong in making distinctions between
"Geometeoric" events and true meteoric events.

Steve Schoner/ams




--- Adam Hupe <adamhupe_at_comcast.net> wrote:
> Dear List Members,
>
> This email was sent and I felt it deserved to be
> responded to publicly
> because I have received numerous other emails asking
> similar questions. If
> you are not interested in the latest Elma material
> results please hit your
> delete button now.
>
> **************************************************
> I was wondering if you would mind updating me on
> what you have
> found out about the Elma object. I did not want to
> post this to the list
> because the subject seems to bring out the worst in
> SOME people, and I
> don't really want to invoke another word war. In any
> case, I would keep
> anything you say confidential until you decide to
> tell the rest of the
> community about it if you wish.
> **************************************************
>
> First of all, I went back to Elma for some answers
> to several questions.
> Some of the things that I did was to collect samples
> from the supplier of
> the original sinter track material and to track down
> the source of the sand
> found in the shot-put pit.
>
> The sand in the shot-put pit came from a quarry
> about a quarter of a mile
> away. It was determined that the sand is natural,
> clean and that the glassy
> objects were introduced sometime later.
>
> Since sinters could be a possible explanation we
> decided it would be proper
> to compare them with what was found in the pit. The
> sinters are left over
> material from burning coal in a steam plant. The
> sinters in the original
> track have been covered for over a decade by a layer
> of asphalt and a
> covering of rubber. Since it was thought that these
> glassy objects might
> have been contamination from the original track it
> was important to locate
> the source of these sinters for comparison. Here is
> the problem, coal
> varies from one burn to the next which means there
> will be some variance in
> the sinters. All I can say is that the sinters that
> were tested at the UW
> did not match the glassy objects found in the pit.
> The UW will release a
> public opinion, I believe, on the results tomorrow.
>
> Things that we have no explanation for:
>
> A dust cloud was observed from the pit within
> seconds of seeing the
> fireball.
>
> An eyewitnesses finger and thumb were burned after
> picking up a piece.
>
> A piece of this glass was found by a police officer
> embedded in a telephone
> pole next to the pit.
>
> The same police officer reported that there were
> dents and burn marks on
> some nearby bleachers.
>
> The same officer reported that where these black
> objects were found on an
> asphalt sidewalk that there was melting.
>
> A newspaper photographer took a picture of hundreds
> of little craters in the
> sand, each containing these black glass objects at
> the bottom.
>
> Sand which was not melted was found in the centers
> of most of these objects
> which consist of basaltic glass that was quenched
> very rapidly, kind of like
> a fulgurite.
>
> The track coach claims the sand was clean prior to
> this event and sinters
> would never have been added.
>
> A few institutions have weighed in on this event.
> One DOD contractor thinks
> it could have been a transient event (a plasma
> discharge) which they
> sporadically pick up on their sensors when
> monitoring for nuclear activity
> from time to time. A Russian scientist is convinced
> that it might have been
> a Geometeorite event (ball lightning). I think that
> the UW will report that
> yet more study needs to be done in order to connect
> this strange glass to
> the meteor sighting which was witnessed by several
> dozen people.
>
> I will post microprobe pictures and data when the UW
> gives me the green
> light.
>
> All the best,
>
> Adam
>
>
>
>
>
> ______________________________________________
> Meteorite-list mailing list
> Meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com
>
http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list


__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software
http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com
Received on Sat 16 Aug 2003 10:17:54 AM PDT