[meteorite-list] Museum Experiment - Iron meteorite needed

From: Michael Blood <mlblood_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri, 27 Nov 2009 15:23:29 -0800
Message-ID: <C7359F71.9681%mlblood_at_cox.net>

Hi all,
        I have been contacted by Dr. Jana Berlin at the Museum
of Natural History in Berlin (SEE BELOW). She is looking for
An iron meteorite (or a slab of same, no less than 30mm X 70mm
X 100mm). This is quite a hefty sized piece (or whole iron), but
It occurred to me someone on the list MAY have an "ugly" iron
Of 1 or 2 Kg (or more) they wouldn't mind donating, as opposed
To spending the time, energy and $ to slice it up. Also, rust does
Not seem to be a deterrent to her needs. (For a dealer, this could
Be a decent tax "write off.")
        I offered her some slabs (with some rust) I have, but they
were far too thin for her purposes (see above minimum dimensions).

        Her email is: Jana Berlin <jberlin at unm.edu>
Other contact info below:
>> Germany
>> I was wondering if maybe you could help me. I am now
>> working at the Museum of Natural History in Berlin,
>> Germany. We have a very interesting project going on
>>here:
>> we are making impact craters ourselves by shooting a
>>steel
>> projectile at a target rock, like sandstone. This is in
>> cooperation with several other institutes in Germany -
>> check out the webpage: http://www.memin.de/.
>>
>> Of course it would be much better if we could use a real
>> meteorite instead of steel as projectile, so that we can
>> learn about how the platinum-group elements are
>> distributed in the target rock and in the rest of the
>> projectile after the impact. The problem is that it is
>> soooo very expensive for us to buy meteorites as the
>> instrumental part of this project is eating up most of
>>the money.
>>
>> So, the question is if you (or anyone you know) would be
>> interested in helping us out by donating a meteorite
>>that you wouldn't mind getting distroyed in this process. We
>> are looking for a well-characterized iron meteorite like
>> Campo del Cielo (or one that has even higher Ir
>> concentrations) to use as projectile, preferably with no
>> or only a few inclusions. A larger piece or even a thick
>> cut slab would be ideal as we are planning a series of
>> experiments and need to make round balls out of it to
>>use as projectile. We would of course acknowledge the
>>donation of a sample in our publications.
>>
>> Sincerely,
>>
>> Dr. Jana Berlin
>>
>> **************************************
>> DR. J A N A B E R L I N
>> Museum f?r Naturkunde
>> Leibniz-Institut f?r Evolutions- und
>> Biodiversit?tsforschung
>> an der Humboldt-Universit?t zu Berlin
>> Invalidenstra?e 43
>> 10115 Berlin
>> Germany
>> Phone: +49-30-2093-8573
>> Web: http://www.unm.edu/~jberlin/
Received on Fri 27 Nov 2009 06:23:29 PM PST