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Meteorite.
Posted: Mon May 16, 2011 4:18 pm
by Jenks
Some years ago whilst out on a days beating in the middle of a ploughed field I found this, what I think is a meteorite. It consists of three spherical balls about the size of golf balls fused together I'm guessing from the colour and weight (529g) that it consists mainly of iron. Anyone an expert on such things?
Jenks
Re: Meteorite.
Posted: Tue May 17, 2011 12:23 pm
by wildrover77
I have a heap of those I picked them up in the desert in Saudi Arabia.
Always suspected they were metorites but never found out.
Re: Meteorite.
Posted: Tue May 17, 2011 12:28 pm
by ovenpaa
I remember seeing one of these when I was studying Geology but that was 40 years ago. I am not so sure it is a meteorite....
Re: Meteorite.
Posted: Tue May 17, 2011 8:48 pm
by Jenks
wildrover77 wrote:I have a heap of those I picked them up in the desert in Saudi Arabia.
Always suspected they were metorites but never found out.
Did you find any that were like mine, fused together that is.
ovenpaa wrote:I remember seeing one of these when I was studying Geology but that was 40 years ago. I am not so sure it is a meteorite....
I assumed that they were meteorites because they were found in a field in Hampshire, and the only possible way they could have been subjected to heat sufficient to fuse them together (given the distance from an active volcano) would I'm guessing be from entering the earths atmosphere. Of course it is just possible that they are not fused together and were formed naturally like that. Anyway they make a nice paperweight.
Thanks for the input chaps.
Jenks
Re: Meteorite.
Posted: Tue May 17, 2011 8:51 pm
by ovenpaa
I do wonder if they are a form of Geode, if not it is on the tip of my tongue and will probably come to me in the middle of a meeting when I should be paying attention to something else :)
Re: Meteorite.
Posted: Wed May 18, 2011 7:39 am
by Robin128
Brass monkeys!
Does anyone know what brass monkeys really are?
No cheating, Jenks!
:lol:
Re: Meteorite.
Posted: Wed May 18, 2011 7:45 am
by Jenks
Robin128 wrote:Brass monkeys!
Does anyone know what brass monkeys really are?
No cheating, Jenks!
:lol:
Yes, I do know, but right at this moment I can't recall. is it not something to do with stacking cannon balls?
Jenks.
Re: Meteorite.
Posted: Wed May 18, 2011 8:33 am
by Robin128
Bang on!
Re: Meteorite.
Posted: Wed May 18, 2011 8:33 am
by bobbob
Yes, it is for stacking cannon balls. Stops them rolling away. I think I saw something about it on the Cutty Sark years ago. Isn't it where the saying about freezing the balls of a brass monkey comes about? Metals contracting and expanding at different rates or something. I'll Google it now and get the full story. :?
Re: Meteorite.
Posted: Wed May 18, 2011 9:07 am
by Polchraine
bobbob wrote:Yes, it is for stacking cannon balls. Stops them rolling away. I think I saw something about it on the Cutty Sark years ago. Isn't it where the saying about freezing the balls of a brass monkey comes about? Metals contracting and expanding at different rates or something. I'll Google it now and get the full story. :?
"freeze the balls off a brass monkey"
Cannonballs are made of cast iron and the monkey that they stand on is brass. As it gets colder the metals contract, with brass contracting more than iron so eventually the brass monkey becomes too small and the balls are forced up, become unstable and roll off.