If you heat a achondrite meteorite until it completely melts and then let it coll and recrystallize, it will leave no trace of the chondrite structure. Heat from various sources has liquefied the chondrules and particles into rock, and heat can also alter the meteorite’s character over time.Īchondrites are stone meteorites that do not have chondrules. The tiny chondrules of chondrites hold together by finer grain particles that form a matrix. The metal can be as little as a few percents to as much as twenty-five percent or more. Most chondrites have nickel-iron metal in them. However, most of the minerals in meteorites are those that make up terrestrial rocks as well. The elements are able to combine to form some minerals not found in terrestrial rocks. All meteorites contain the same elements as here on Earth but new minerals form because the processes of rock creation in space are quite different from those on Earth. The chondrules clumped up and through accretion formed into larger masses, finally becoming asteroid-size bodies from which broken off chunks have made it to Earth. These are droplets of melted rock which cooled in microgravity into tiny spheres. The simplest breakdown of the stony group is, Chondrites, Achondrites, and the Planetary meteorites containing the achondrites that have unique originsĪ chondrite meteorite is a rock from space that contains small spherical structures called chondrules. There are dozens of subgroups in this family. The stone type of meteorite is almost completely rocky material and are also the most common type. They show a pattern when etched by chemicals because of the different nickel-iron minerals composing them. Magnets strongly attract Iron meteorites which look like real metal when you grind a spot off their surface. Also many of the craters formed by iron meteorites because the asteroids survived without breaking up all the way to the ground. Because of the strength of the metal, some of the largest individuals recovered are iron. The iron group is nearly solid nickel-iron metal. Each of these basic families has subgroups. There are three basic types of meteorites, the irons, stony, and the stony-irons. It’s important to note that some people call these events meteorite showers but this is not accurate as meteor shows do not produce meteorites. They burn up almost completely high in the atmosphere dozens of miles above the Earth’s surface. Meteor showers happen as tiny bits of material from dust size to the size of a grain of wheat. In addition, each year the Earth passes through the orbits of comets and the dust from these comets produce a meteor shower. Meteors and fireballs are commonly referred to as shooting stars. A fireball is a very bright meteor and may actually break up and drop meteorites. Several larger meteoroids collide with the Earth every day with some landing in the oceans and others on land.Ī meteor is the streak of light we see at night as a small meteoroid burns up passing through our atmosphere. The Earth collides with thousands of small pieces of this material from outer space producing the sporadic shooting stars and fireball meteors seen at night. Collisions and gravitational interactions between asteroids can send smaller pieces into the inner solar system where they can intersect with Earth’s orbit to become part of the thousands of meteorites that fall to earth. Most meteorites originate from larger asteroid bodies orbiting the Sun in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. A meteorite is a rock from space that passes through the atmosphere and survives impact with the ground.
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