[meteorite-list] Park Forest Main Mass Status

From: walter branch <branchw_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:25:34 2004
Message-ID: <002601c310c6$c2ab96a0$bcc19f44_at_l1s2m3>

Hello Everyone,

I have always felt the term "main mass" was so ill
defined as to be one of the least important (to me)
properties of a find or fall. If it is strictly a collecting term
then the potential problems are enormous. Suppose, for
example, a museum has the 10 kg "main mass" (I'll define
it as the largest recovered piece) of a given fall or find. But
then the museum decides to do a trade and cut the meteorite
roughly 60/40, keeping the larger piece. Does it still have
the main mass? Not if I have a 7.5 kg specimen.

Not that I have a 7.5 kg specimen of anything.

Think of the problems with all the NWA meteorites (no, I'm
not picking on them).

An operational definition would be nice but when a simple cut
of the saw can alter the main mass, for many meteorites this property
would change overnight.

Now, don't get me started on TKW...

-Walter
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www.branchmeteorites.com
Received on Fri 02 May 2003 12:20:34 PM PDT