[meteorite-list] Temperature of meteorites

From: Chris Peterson <clp_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 23 Nov 2010 15:03:22 -0700
Message-ID: <539CB767C5164D89BE5B99100978687F_at_bellatrix>

Heating is due to ram pressure for bodies larger than a few millimeters. For
very small particles, ram pressure is not a factor because of the large
distance between air molecules compared with the cross-sectional area. These
small particles do heat up as the result of collisions with molecules, in a
process that is analogous to friction.

In other words, for all bodies that produce meteorites, frictional heating
effects are insignificant.

Chris

*****************************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com


----- Original Message -----
From: "JoshuaTreeMuseum" <joshuatreemuseum at embarqmail.com>
To: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Tuesday, November 23, 2010 2:22 PM
Subject: [meteorite-list] Temperature of meteorites


>I was under the impression that it's a myth that direct friction from O and
>N molecules on the surface of a meteorite create the heat that causes
>ablation. I thought that ram pressure in front of the meteorite was the
>main factor in generating heat. The KE and PE would create a hot shock
>layer which would flow back around the meteorite causing its outer layer to
>melt. I would think that friction is a minor factor, unless you're
>talking about ram pressure as a kind of friction.
>
> Phil Whitmer
Received on Tue 23 Nov 2010 05:03:22 PM PST