Meteorite Study and observations

What are we doing???? 1. sketch, observe, and describe the 6 different rock samples from the meteorite set 2. perform a magnet test to see which of them might contain iron 3. hypotheses…which of these may have been meteorites…what do you think?....why? 4. we’ll record the results after we’re all finished

Results…..

#1—Iron meteorite This sample is from an iron meteorite. It’s a blend of 95% iron and nickel. This is why it is magnetic. This blend of iron and nickel is almost completely unique to meteorites. This IS a meteorite.

#2—Stony meteorite This sample is from a stony meteorite. It is a chondrite (comprised of a mixture of silicate minerals and small flecks of iron-nickel metal). You can observe the chondrules as small round objects embedded in the rock. This IS a meteorite.

#3—Impactite This is a sample of impactite. Impactite is formed by very high forces present in the explosive impact of a meteorite with the ground. The extreme pressure in the blast compresses the ground into “instant rock.” This not a meteorite itself, but from an impact site.

#4—Gray Suevite This is a sample of grey suevite. Suevite is a breccia, a rock made up of broken and recemented rock fragments. At an impact site, the target rocks are subjected to huge shock forces, pressures, and temperatures where rock is fractured, tossed, and mixed together. Some of this mixture solidifies into suevite. This not a meteorite itself, but from an impact site.

#5—Tektite This is a sample of tektite. Tektites are glassy products of impacts on Earth. High velocity impacts with the ground will throw ejecta into the air. When some of that ejecta cools off and comes back down through the atmosphere, it will solidify into glassy droplets with streamlines (showing passage through the air). This not a meteorite itself, but from an impact site.

#6—Olivine This is a sample of olivine. Olivine is a silicate mineral found in great abundance on Earth and in stony meteorites. In pallasite (stony-iron) meteorites, olivine crystals are interspersed with bright iron-nickel material. This sample is not a meteorite itself, it’s just a plain mineral from Earth. This is what a pallasite looks like 