GKL Posted July 19, 2016 Share Posted July 19, 2016 (edited) Hey everyone ! I understand that many possible meteorites turn out to be earth rocks, but hey, it doesn't hurt to research and see ! I have photos of 4 possible meteorites, they seem pretty heavy for their size, the photos include a yardstick for size reference and I weighed each with a postal scale and the weights are as follows: GKL M150 = 1 lb 4.7 oz GKL M250 = 2 lb 2.3 oz GKL M350 = 1 lb 13.6 oz GKL M450 = 2 lb 15.4 oz I don't have a strong rare earth magnet, but a less powerful regular magnet on a string is attracted. I'm not ready to cut into them yet, just wanted to get an initial impression from you all. Thanks ! Edited July 19, 2016 by GKL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GKL Posted July 19, 2016 Author Share Posted July 19, 2016 (edited) Update after further research - I feel a little silly for allowing myself to be too overly optimistic, I guess it might have been because those rocks were found on the surface and were unlike the normal rocks in that area (a lot of quartz type rock and granite like rock). Further research online I found more than one place that estimated that about 99% of what might look like a meteorite is not. ( Perhaps I might have a better chance of finding gold ) http://meteorites.wustl.edu/meteorwrongs/meteorwrongs.htm (quote from the above link) Most (~99%) meteorites found by amateurs are ordinary chondrites, irons, and stony irons because (1) these are the most common kinds of meteorites that fall from the sky and (2) such meteorites are often easy to spot because they look different from “ordinary” rocks, even to an amateur. For example, most chondrites and all irons and stony irons contain iron metal and are, therefore, magnetic in that they will attract a compass needle. They are also a bit denser (heavier for their size) than most terrestrial (Earth) rocks. (end quote) (I still might cut into them just to be completely sure) Edited July 19, 2016 by GKL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeoJack Posted July 19, 2016 Share Posted July 19, 2016 GKL, easy to do, I still have some terrestrial rocks that "look" right but are wrongs. Keep looking down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GKL Posted July 19, 2016 Author Share Posted July 19, 2016 48 minutes ago, GeoJack said: GKL, easy to do, I still have some terrestrial rocks that "look" right but are wrongs. Keep looking down. Thanks for the encouragement GeoJack, anyhow to look on the positive side, I guess it might be easier to find gold than meteorites Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Au Seeker Posted July 19, 2016 Share Posted July 19, 2016 On 7/19/2016 at 9:27 AM, GKL said: Thanks for the encouragement GeoJack, anyhow to look on the positive side, I guess it might be easier to find gold than meteorites When you know what gold looks like, yes it's easier to know it's gold when you first find it, with meteroties is not as easy for sure, almost impossible for a newbie meteorite hunter and even some who have been hunting them for a while can still have a hard time knowing for sure! You would be surprised how many people that can't tell if it's real gold when finding gold in nature the first few times, but after finding few pieces of real gold on your own it's hard to be fooled again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GKL Posted July 19, 2016 Author Share Posted July 19, 2016 10 minutes ago, Au Seeker said: When you know what gold looks like, yes it's easier to know it's gold when you first find it, with meteroties is not as easy for sure, almost impossible for a newbie meteorite hunter and even some who have been hunting them for a while can still have a hard time knowing for sure! You would be surprised how many people that can't tell if it's real gold when finging gold in nature the first few times, but after finding few pieces of real gold on your own it's hard to be fooled again! Thanks, I have looked at various pictures of naturally found gold to get an idea of what to look for, especially gold in quartz since we do have a lot of quartz type rocks around here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Au Seeker Posted July 19, 2016 Share Posted July 19, 2016 Where are you located in general? You will most likely be fooled many times by any "gold" found at first as there're many things/other minerals that are much more common that can look like gold to a first time fiinder, knowing a few simple tests will go a long way in helping you determine if it's is indeed gold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GKL Posted July 19, 2016 Author Share Posted July 19, 2016 1 hour ago, Au Seeker said: Where are you located in general? You will most likely be fooled many times by any "gold" found at first as there're many things/other minerals that are much more common that can look like gold to a first time fiinder, knowing a few simple tests will go a long way in helping you determine if it's is indeed gold. I live in Fairfield county in South Carolina, there are gold mines in South Carolina, including Fairfield county, so I hope that it might be more likely to find even small amounts of gold than in other states not known for gold mines. (just my speculation, I'm not an expert ) but I would be happy finding anything of value, gold, silver, coins, relics, ect. Since there are a lot of quartz type rocks to be found here and I hope some gold might occasionally be found with the quartz. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeoJack Posted July 20, 2016 Share Posted July 20, 2016 Some local gold in quartz. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeoJack Posted July 20, 2016 Share Posted July 20, 2016 Local meteorite, Sutter's Mill SM33 from Wikipedia, wife's palm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikestang Posted July 20, 2016 Share Posted July 20, 2016 (edited) On 7/19/2016 at 7:42 AM, GKL said: http://meteorites.wustl.edu/meteorwrongs/meteorwrongs.htm That is a great link (I actually just shared it in another thread before reading this one), study every image on those pages day after day, good eye practice. There's even a couple real meteorites in there, too, see if you can spot them before reading the descriptions. And no, it does not appear any of your rocks are meteorites, keep at it. Edited July 20, 2016 by Mikestang Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GKL Posted July 21, 2016 Author Share Posted July 21, 2016 On 7/20/2016 at 9:54 AM, GeoJack said: Some local gold in quartz. yep, that's what I'd like to find, there is a lot of quartz here but so far none like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GKL Posted July 21, 2016 Author Share Posted July 21, 2016 23 hours ago, Mikestang said: That is a great link (I actually just shared it in another thread before reading this one), study every image on those pages day after day, good eye practice. There's even a couple real meteorites in there, too, see if you can spot them before reading the descriptions. And no, it does not appear any of your rocks are meteorites, keep at it. my initial hope was because they were noticeably heavier than regular rocks, but I realize there is more to meteorites than weight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GKL Posted July 21, 2016 Author Share Posted July 21, 2016 On 7/20/2016 at 9:59 AM, GeoJack said: Local meteorite, Sutter's Mill SM33 from Wikipedia, wife's palm. neat, can definitely see the fusion crust ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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