[meteorite-list] sulphurous smell of meteorites (was Temperature ofmeteorites)

From: Jonathan E. Dongell <jdongell_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 24 Nov 2010 17:02:21 -0800
Message-ID: <00ab01cb8c3c$6a09e1b0$6401a8c0_at_homepc>

All,
Is would seem logical (assuming the story is true) that if a dog can find a
meteorite
in the middle of a large field in West, Texas; and further, find that same
stone to be 'unusual' enough
(i.e. maybe sulfur-stinky???) to carry it back to his owner's front porch,
its not because the stone is pretty.... There must be some smell associated
with that rock???

If that dog is anything like ours, it could sniff out a cookie a mile away
: - )
What do you think???
Jonathan Dongell
IMCA 3922



----- Original Message -----
From: "JoshuaTreeMuseum" <joshuatreemuseum at embarqmail.com>
To: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Wednesday, November 24, 2010 10:40 AM
Subject: [meteorite-list] sulphurous smell of meteorites (was Temperature
ofmeteorites)


> Marco:
>
> Ditto that! Last summer I was photographing some crusted Zag in the full
> sun when it was 95 degrees out. I was distracted for four or five minutes,
> when I came back the meteorites were so hot you could barely hold them in
> your hand!
>
> Phil Whitmer
>
> --------------------------------
>
>
>
> Piper et al.,
>
> Without implying that ALL reports of sulphurous smells are necessarily
> unreliable, I do urge caution.
>
> Over my career of checking alleged Dutch new meteorite falls (all
> meteorwrongs!)
> there have been a number of cases where people reported to me "sulphurous
> smells" when encountering the stone. Mind you: all of these were *not*
> meteorites, but things ranging from flint to brick to slag.
>
> Like "red glowing", the "sulphorous smells" are something that people
> apparently
> expect with true meteorites. So they tend to "observe" it, even if the
> object
> later turns out to be not a meteorite but an earthly object!
>
> Never underestimate the power of suggestion.
>
> The same goes for reports of "very hot" meteorites.
>
> Concerning the latter: when a fall takes place in bright sunlight, be
> aware that
> after the fall the stone will quickly get "hot" simply because the black
> fusion
> crust absorbs warmth from sunlight, in the same way that tarmac or a dark
> painted garden bench do. I 'discovered' this several years ago when
> placing a
> few fragments of Mbale in sunlight for a few minutes for a photograph.
> When I
> picked them up I almost dropped them again because of a sensation of them
> being
> "hot" (on second inspection, they weren't actually that hot, but they did
> clearly warm up in the sunlight enough for this initial sensation to
> occur).
>
> In more speculative moments, I have pondered a few times whether the decay
> of
> very shortlived radioisotopes in meteorites could play a role in reports
> of
> "glowing" and "hot" fresh-fallen meteorites as well. That is pure
> speculation
> that will probably not hold on closer scrutiny, however.
>
> - Marco
>
> -----
> Dr Marco (asteroid 183294) Langbroek
> Dutch Meteor Society (DMS)
>
>
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Received on Wed 24 Nov 2010 08:02:21 PM PST