[meteorite-list] Nickel tests

From: cdtucson at cox.net <cdtucson_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 23 Sep 2009 19:04:11 -0700
Message-ID: <20090923220411.BBO1U.330923.imail_at_fed1rmwml32>

List,
This is very interesting.
I recently sent a metal axe object to Dr. Pierre Rochette at the university in Marseilles france . My specimen tested positive for nickel but come to find out it actually had none and this is what he had to say.;

The chemical Ni test is a problem, but you have to know that pure Fe
> also give a strong red color on that test, the presence of Ni just
> alter a bit the tone.
>
> regards
> --
> Pierre

So, I guess the color matters too.
Carl

--
Carl or Debbie Esparza
Meteoritemax
---- Michael Murray <mmurray at montrose.net> wrote: 
> For what they are worth, here are a couple suggestions...
> If you place the suspect iron on a strong magnet, then remove the  
> magnet, the suspect iron should not retain magnetism (if it's a  
> meteorite) but should to some extent if man-made iron. Kind of like  
> magnetizing the tip of a screwdriver.  You can test the once  
> magnetized suspect iron to see if it will attract fine particles of  
> magnetite,   Not very scientific I know but it is a good indicator I  
> think.
> 
> Another thing you can try if the suspect iron is not very big is to  
> place it on a strong magnet (super magnet if you have one) and if the  
> iron piece wants to orient itself up on one of it's ends on the  
> magnet, I would rule out meteorite.  If your suspect iron is large,  
> you'd probably have to remove a small piece of it to do this test.  If  
> the small piece lays down on any of it's sides on the magnet and  
> doesn't want to orient itself, I'd put it in my 'it's a keeper for  
> more testing' pile.
> 
> I bought a couple nickel test kits.  I have tried to be as careful as  
> possible to do a clean uncontaminated test on several suspect irons.   
> After doing quite a few, I still don't trust the results.  It's not  
> that I don't get positives, I do.  It's that I've learned not trust  
> the positive tests all that much.  If I find a big enough suspect iron  
> someday with enough other indicators that it could be a meteorite then  
> I will let a lab do the testing so I can rest assured the results are  
> going to be more trustworthy than mine.  Meanwhile, my 'it's a keeper  
> for more testing' pile continues to grow.
> 
> Mike in CO
> 
> On Sep 23, 2009, at 12:27 PM, Mike Hankey wrote:
> 
> > I've done some nickel tests on some of the slag/meteor wrongs we  
> > have found.
> >
> > It tests positive for nickel.
> >
> > Does this sound normal?
> >
> > So I guess the only way to confirm slag (if you can't do it visually)
> > is to cut it open and if there are holes / bubbles then it is slag. Or
> > if the slice doesn't look like a meteorite slice it is slag.
> >
> > For the record, I am personally looking for west like fusion crusted
> > stones and this is what I am training people to look for. At the same
> > time when I get reports about weird rocks I have to follow up and take
> > a look. Not all slag looks the same, there are a lot of different
> > types. I'm getting pretty good at identifying / ruling things out, but
> > the nickel test threw me for a loop.
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Received on Wed 23 Sep 2009 10:04:11 PM PDT