Big Boys Hobbies

Does Anyone Actually Know What a Dang Meteorite Looks Like?

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erudolf

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Joined
Jul 24, 2017
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Location
Minneapolis, MN
As I've mentioned in a previous post, I tend to hunt (because of my region) large public park areas near water. Usually garbage-filled, but sometimes not. What I'm finding a lot lately are pieces of metal that look like they "used to be" something else. They're usually rounded and smooth, not always but they never have sharp or jagged edges. I would describe them as "nuggets." They definitely look like they were melted and probably traveling at a high rate of speed (some of them have tiny tails), and they always register a strong VDI similar to a coin, usually a quarter or silver dollar but always very high on the silver scale. They're usually about the size of a piece of Bubble Yum--there's a blast from the past.

I was born and raised around firearms, so I know a bullet when I see one--a few are very likely bullets but most of them are definitely not. I'm sitting at work right now with my collection 45 minutes away from me, so I promise I'll take pictures tonight and post them tomorrow. But my only theory at this point is that they might be meteorites. Does anyone have a quick photo of a some confirmed meteorites they've found when detecting so I can compare?

I have one alternative but probably very stupid theory as well. Because they look melted, and I always find them around trees, I'm wondering if they're maybe coins that have been melted when lightening hits the tree? I mean, it's not crazy right? One of them scans as pure silver, I just don't get it. Any help would be appreciated, and I promise to post photos tonight when I get home.
 
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You will never find a meteor, not unless you fly into space :lol:

If they hit the Earth they're called meteorites ;)

Got pics? Heavy or light?
 
I've found a few of those for sure, I think those are the sharper, flatter pieces of junk I've been finding. They end up pretty sharp and flat, and you can kind of see how they melted flat. What I've been hanging onto are more like nuggets, I think it would be tough for a can to melt in this shape. But I just don't know!
 
GroundSweeper said:
You will never find a meteor, not unless you fly into space :lol:

If they hit the Earth they're called meteorites ;)
Click to expand...

I knew that . . . or maybe I used to and forgot :-)

I'm going to post some pics tonight. In terms of weight, I would say "medium." They're dense for sure, about the same weight as a rock of the same size.
 
Hey no worries, I caught the sense of humor :-)

Just checked out the link . . . yeah, I don't have anything that looks like that. I'm going to put up some photos tonight. I'm stumped.

Wait, I just looked at a few more pages . . .maybe I do have one or two. The mystery continues!
 
Possibly slag or clinkers brought in with the fill dirt years ago.
 
Info on them.
Marvin
Bottom Line:

If you have a rock that is not metallic and it has a specific gravity greater than 4.0, it is not a meteorite.

If you have a rock that has a specific gravity in the range 3.0 to 4.0, it might be a meteorite. That's the good news. The bad news is that if you collect 1000 rocks with specific gravities in that range, they're probably all Earth rocks because some kinds Earth rocks are in the 3-4 range.

If you have a rock that has a specific gravity of less than 3.0, it is almost certainly not a meteorite. Most Earth rocks have specific gravities of less than 3.0.
 
Find the same thing

I have found several of these items myself, with research I have discovered that what I am getting is aluminum slag. It is most likely that there was or is an old factory upstream, and these are the byproduct of there manufacturing where they are using water from the stream as a coolant. The slag is generated from a molten metal and the overrun from pouring the molten metal into a mold. Mine is quite light that's why I assumed aluminum .
 
erudolf said:
I would describe them as "nuggets." They definitely look like they were melted and probably traveling at a high rate of speed (some of them have tiny tails), and they always register a strong VDI similar to a coin, usually a quarter or silver dollar but always very high on the silver scale.

I was born and raised around firearms, so I know a bullet when I see one--a few are very likely bullets but most of them are definitely not.

I'm wondering if they're maybe coins that have been melted when lightening hits the tree? I mean, it's not crazy right? One of them scans as pure silver, I just don't get it. Any help would be appreciated, and I promise to post photos tonight when I get home.
Click to expand...

The tiny tails are just from the way the cans or slag were melted/cooled. Your description (no pictures yet) sounds nothing like meteorites and exactly like melted aluminum from a campfire or trash fire.

If you are familiar with bullets as you say, then you know they are (almost) always lead, and thus very dense.

Melted coins from lightning- no, for several reasons.

erudolf said:
I've found a few of those for sure, I think those are the sharper, flatter pieces of junk I've been finding. They end up pretty sharp and flat, and you can kind of see how they melted flat. What I've been hanging onto are more like nuggets, I think it would be tough for a can to melt in this shape. But I just don't know!
Click to expand...

Cans and other aluminum or pot metal debris can and do melt into nugget-like chunks.

Maddog0963 said:
I have found several of these items myself, with research I have discovered that what I am getting is aluminum slag. It is most likely that there was or is an old factory upstream, and these are the byproduct of there manufacturing where they are using water from the stream as a coolant. The slag is generated from a molten metal and the overrun from pouring the molten metal into a mold. Mine is quite light that's why I assumed aluminum .
Click to expand...

Slag and clinkers can come from many sources, both industrial and household - unless you know there was a casting operation upstream, that is not likely your source. Overrun from molds is/was recovered and recycled in the factory as much as possible, and is not truly slag.
 
Maybe molten lead?

Btw, most meteorites stick to a magnet, so if your 'meteorite' doesn't stick, then it's probably not meteorite.

A while ago I read an article about meteorites, and that you have to be really, really lucky to find one.
 
These guys do
 

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