[meteorite-list] Dumb Questions About Meteors & Meteorites

From: Darren Garrison <cynapse_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 2010 16:01:54 -0500
Message-ID: <f9lul5hr98gls6ran87vjqfo55mk58ggtg_at_4ax.com>

On Mon, 25 Jan 2010 19:26:20 -0800, you wrote:

>atmosphere like science tells us they do? And if they don't burn up
>completely why does just about every text on meteors say they do? And if
>that the case, then how is it possible to weigh something that doesn't
>exist, anymore?

I haven't noticed if someone addressed this point yet, but even if a
micrometeorite does "burn up," the atoms from which it was composed continue to
exist, and their mass therefore has been added to the mass of the
Earth+atmosphere, so it still exists. And burning is a chemical process (oh,
heck, I'll just toss in a wikipedia link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combustion) and some components of a micrometeorite
would possibly not chemically react and simply melt and form microscopic
droplets that would solidify and eventually make their way to the ground. And
even heavier elements that did chemically react (iron oxidizing, for instance)
would form molicules that would eventually settle out of the atmosphere, being
much heavier than "normal" atmospheric components. So, technically, the answer
to how much of a meteorite (of whatever size) reaches the ground is "almost all
of it." Just not in a form that you would recognize.
Received on Tue 26 Jan 2010 04:01:54 PM PST