John Blennert told me a couple of years ago that if suspected tektites were heated with a torch, it would react differently than anapache tear. One melts and froths up and the other just glows read....I think the true tektites simply glow red.
If JB is monitoring the list, maybe he can clarify things. I believe Jim Kriegh also knows something about this test.
John
At 03:44 PM 12/20/02 -0800, N Lehrman wrote:
Rob and list,
Sounds like a good idea--but I just tried it, and both Thailandites and Rizalites with impeccable credentials get just as hot as Apache Tears that I collected directly from perlite outcrops.
Keep the ideas coming!
Norm
----- Original Message -----
From: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>Matson, Robert
To: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>'N Lehrman' ; <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>meteorite-list@meteoritecentra l.com
Sent: Friday, December 20, 2002 2:51 PM
Subject: [meteorite-list] Simple tektite test
Hi All,
I believe this test was mentioned a while back by Bob Verish or another list
member, but can't you just put a tektite candidate in a microwave oven,
blast it for 30 seconds, and see if it gets hot? It is my understanding that
tektites (due to the low water content) will not; obsidian, apache tears,
terrestrial glass all will. --Rob
-----Original Message-----
From: N Lehrman [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Wednesday, December 18, 2002 11:25 PM
To: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>meteorite-list@meteoritecentra l.com
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Tektite identification criterion
Mark and list,
Properties like those you've listed do show helpful variations, but the range between individual tektite types tends to overlap with terrestrial materials to the point that none of this allows one to discriminate between tektites and other materials.
Despite the thousands of papers debating the myriad mysteries of tektite lore, I don't know of any that directly address the fundamental question "how do you tell if something is or is not a tektite?". I'd love to hear from any of you out there with ideas or suggested references.
I'm going to pull a synthesis of this subject together with time, and there is a reasonable stash of widely scattered data that bear on the subject. The really big challenge though is coming up with criteria that can be used outside of a major university laboratory setting. For example, one of the hallmark characteristics of tektite glass is its exceedingly low water content. However, you'd be hard pressed to find any commercial laboratory that could provide an accurate determination of this property at the levels of resolution we require. Ditto a good ion microprobe analysis. This is all great stuff in the academic laboratory settings where most technical publications originate, but what are we supposed to do out here on the front lines?
Of course, there are great folks in academia who will collaborate on worthy issues, but such matters cannot extend to passing judgment on suspect materials that arrive in the mail every other week. You meteorite freaks know the routine well---and have developed a pretty good bag of tricks to screen the winners from the losers. With tektites, we've barely emerged from debating the very definition of the word.
Cheers,
Norm
(TektiteSource.com)
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