Meteorites: types and characteristics with pictures – precious stones
Meteorites are parts of rocks or minerals that fell on the planet from outer space, usually in the form of meteorites or asteroids that were able to pass through the atmosphere and survive the force of friction and the intense heat that It is exposed to it as it falls through it, such as meteors and meteors. It is worth noting that the majority of meteorites burn in the atmosphere and do not reach the Earth’s surface. And many scientists believe in a number of studies that have been conducted in this regard that meteorites that strike the Earth often originated in the asteroid belt that exists between the planets Mars and Jupiter. As for its size, it is of a high degree of variance and diversity. Sometimes you may find it as small in size, no more than your palm, and it starts from less than one gram, and you may find it at other times, its size reaches more than 60 tons.
The meteorites have fallen to the Earth since its inception, which is more than 4 billion years old, as indicated by geological studies, and results from the collision of species Large ones have a lot of energy that causes massive events and perhaps sometimes radical historical changes (such as the theory of the extinction of the dinosaurs). In any case, the composition of these stones is sometimes a high degree of uniqueness, as they may contain rare minerals that are difficult to find on the surface of the earth, and therefore their value increases on this basis. On the other hand, there are other factors on the basis of which the value of meteorites is determined, including source, characteristics, appearance and size.
the shape of a meteor crater
when a path intersects These meteorites with the Earth’s orbit, the meteorite enters the atmosphere at a high speed, causing the occurrence of luminous phenomena we call meteor fall. This single phenomenon should not be confused with the phenomenon of meteor showers, which affect the Earth as it passes through the orbit of a group of comets.
Rare meteorite shape
Types of Meteorites
The types of these stones are divided into three main types, although there are a large number of subspecies. Those main types are: iron, stony, and iron-stone meteorites. Almost all meteorites contain in their components the minerals nickel and iron that are found on Planet Earth. As for the stones that do not contain any percentage of iron, they are very rare and difficult to find compared to other meteorites, and the probability of their presence is low. Therefore, when you want to determine the quality of the meteorite that you have, you must basically examine the iron content in it, as the lower this percentage, the higher its quality. But if the iron percentage increases in it, its quality will decrease as there is an inverse relationship between them.
Iron meteorites
The appearance of iron meteorites Most people have never held an iron meteorite in their hands during their lives, and when someone picks up this stone, his reaction is accompanied by amazement and amazement and feels that the stone is too heavy for its size . This is because stone contains some of the densest materials on Earth and is much heavier than most rocks on Earth. The percentage of iron in most of these stones ranges from between % to me 233% , and the rest of the ratio consists of the element nickel to Along with a number of other rare items. These stones are divided into layers, either through the chemical composition or the structure of the stone. The structural classes are determined by studying alloys consisting of two elements, iron and nickel: kamasite and taenite. )
These alloys grow in a complex crystalline form known as “Wiedemann Stein forms” after the apparent “Count Ulis da Wiedemann Stein” described in the nineteenth century. This grid-like morphological arrangement can be very beautiful, and is usually only visible when iron meteorites are cut into shiny slabs and then etched with a mild solution of nitric acid. The said kamasite crystals are measured in this process and the average bandwidth is used to split these boundary stones into a number of structural layers. Iron stones with narrow bands, less than one millimeter, are of good octahedrite As for stones with wide ranges, they are called
coarse octahedrite . Stone meteorites Stone stones represent the largest group of meteorites, in addition to That it was part of the outer crust of a planet or asteroid. It resembles many meteorites, especially those that have been on the surface of our planet for a long period of time, which includes many terrestrial rocks. The newly fallen stones display a black melting crust that looks as if its surface has literally been scorched during its fall journey and penetration of the atmosphere. The vast majority of stones contain enough iron for them to have a great deal of cohesion and bonding.
Appearance of stony meteorites
Some stony meteorites also contain small, colored grain-like inclusions known as “chondrules.” These tiny grains originate in solar nebulae; Thus they may have originated before our planet and the rest of the solar system were formed, making them the oldest stones available for study. These stones containing these chondrules are known as “chondrites.” Space rocks that do not contain chondrites are called chondrites. They are volcanic rocks from space that were formed from the fiery activity inside the bodies during the melting and crystallization that eliminated all traces of the ancient chondrules.
- an iron meteorite that melted and then merged with the rocks
- The stones Meteorites from the Moon and Mars
- The form of a meteorite in deep space
Are Martian and lunar stones found on the surface of planet Earth? The answer is yes, but to a very limited extent. It is estimated that more than have been found. is a type while for Martian stones it is estimated at 30 Kindly, these stones are divided into a number of other sub-types, all of which belong to what is known as the “chondrite group”. As for the value of these stones, they are the most valuable meteorite stones compared to other stones, as their owners usually sell them at prices starting from a thousand dollars per gram, which makes their value much more than their equivalent weight in gold. Stone Iron Stones
This species is the least abundant is among the major types accounting for less than 2% of all known meteorites. These stones consist of approximately equal amounts of nickel, iron and stone and are divided into two groups: Pallasites and mesosiderites, the most alluring of the meteorites, are the most attractive of the meteorites, and are of great interest to collectors, and consist of a nickel-ferrous matrix packed with olivine crystals . When olivine crystals are of sufficient purity and show an emerald green color, they look like peridot gemstones.
Mesosiderites; They are the smallest among the stone iron stones. It contains both ferric nickel and silicates. is the “ Mesosiderites is a word derived from the Greek and means “half iron”, and they are very rare stones. The types of these stones represent less than a hundred stones compared to the thousands of other types of meteorites that have been officially counted.
