[meteorite-list] Temperature of meteorites

From: lebofsky at lpl.arizona.edu <lebofsky_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 23 Nov 2010 03:46:53 -0700 (MST)
Message-ID: <a59e1e9b19bd57a83bcb42d1539e7113.squirrel_at_webmail.lpl.arizona.edu>

Thanks Bernd:

This will help a lot!

My guess is that "warm" means warmer than the air temperature, but
probably not much warmer than body temperature since even 15 to 20 degrees
Centigrade (125 to 135 degrees F) is considered hot.

Given that some have been said to be frosty, and one always hears that
they are the temperature of space, how many of the "hot" ones might
actually be too cold to handle? Maybe that is the myth! I am very
surprised that anything small that has had a chance to cool down in the
atmosphere would still be to hot to handle on the ground.

I guess I will just have to wait and see my own Fall and pick it up quickly!

I wish I could find the old Lost City fall picture of the meteorite in
snow. I do not remember seeing any melted snow around it, but it must have
been warm enough to attract a dog.

Larry

> Good morning Listees, Listoids, Listers,
>
> Here's a copy of something I posted many years ago (maybe 2004).
>
> Cheers,
>
> Bernd
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> Meteorites - warm or hot to the touch?
>
> 01) The Binningup meteorite was recovered within a few minutes
> of the fall and was reported to have been warm to the touch.
>
> 02) Cabin Creek: Three hours after the fall, Mr. and Mrs. Shandy were able
> to find the hole and excavate the mass, reportedly still uncomfortably
> warm.
>
> 03) Glatton: was warm, not hot, when first picked up.
>
> 04) Gurram Konda: near the tent some small warm
> stones, which the Sentry has seen falling down.
>
> 05) Juromenha: The mass was said to have been incandescent
> when discovered and still warm when recovered next morning
>
> 06) L'Aigle: Affrighted persons who picked them up found
> the stones to be very warm and smelling of sulfur.
>
> 07) Limerick: It was immediately dug up, and I have been informed by those
> that were
> present, and on whom I could rely, that it was then warm and had a
> sulphurous smell.
>
> 08) Middlesbrough: The stone was "new-milk warm" when found, ...
>
> 09) Noblesville: The meteorite was not glowing as it passed the boys and
> was "slightly warm" when Spaulding picked it up a few seconds after it
> fell.
>
> 10) Pettiswood: The affrighted horse fell to the Earth, and two boys
> rushed to him in
> terror carrying fragments that Bingley found to be warm as milk just from
> the cow.
>
> 11) Pontlyfni: When I picked up the fragment of metal, or whatever it is,
> it was warm in my hand.
>
> 12) Rowton: It is, moreover, stated that when Mr. Brooks found the mass
> "it was quite warm."
>
> 13) Tsukuba: Seconds later student Ryutaro Araki stopped to retrieve
> a still-warm stone that had fallen in front of his car near Tsukuba
>
> 14) Wold Cottage: Rushing to the spot he found a large
> stone, warm and smoking and smelling of sulfur.
>
> 15) Crumlin: When dug out the object, which had embedded itself in a
> straightdownward
> course for 13 inches, was found to be quite hot, continuing so for about
> an hour.
>
> 16) Eichst?dt: The man rushed to the spot but found the black
> stone too hot to pick up until it cooled in the snow.
>
> 17) Hanau: A hot stone the size of a pea was picked up, weight 0.37 gr.
>
> 18) Harrogate: A hot stone, like basalt, fell accompanied
> by whistling in the air and lightning and thunder ...
>
> 19) Holbrook: One piece larger than an orange fell into a tree in a yard
> at Aztec cutting the limb off slick and clean and falling to the ground,
> and when picked up was almost red-hot.
>
> Von Achen, who saw them fall, reported that they were too hot to pick
> up. Two accounts state that they became lighter in color after cooling.
>
> 20) Luc?: several harvesters, startled by sudden thunderclaps and a loud
> hissing noise, looked up and saw the stone plunge into a field where they
> found it half-buried and too hot to pick up.
>
> 21) Magombedze: A 10-cm stone weighing approximately 600 gr
> survived the impact intact and was hot to touch.
>
> 22) Menziswyl: The farmers say that the stone fell with the lightning and
> shattered when it hit the ground; it was hot when they picked it up.
>
> ______________________________________________
> Visit the Archives at
> http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html
> Meteorite-list mailing list
> Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
>
Received on Tue 23 Nov 2010 05:46:53 AM PST