Hello Kevin and List, I am inclined to believe that this was not an actual meteorite fall, for a couple reasons. I live in Washington State, and have done a fair amount of amateur research on the meteorites from my state, and some of the particulars of the story from Florida remind me of the account of the Kirkland, WA fall that turned out to be a hoax. (Though it sure doesn't seem like the gentlemen in Florida is trying to mislead anyone.)
Something that makes a 2" diameter hole will have reached terminal velocity; it will not have retained any of it's original cosmic velocity. This means it will essentially be free-falling, straight down, towards the Earth's center of gravity. A 45 - 60 degree impact angle at the Earth's surface for a small free-falling meteorite is not consistent with what we know of the physics of falls. Another detail that, for me at least, would call into question whether the perpetrator here was in fact a meteorite is the damage done to the R.V. A 2 inch diameter meteorite is awefully small to punch through a fiberglass roof, 3/8 of an inch of plywood, and continue through insulation. I doubt a 2 inch rock in free-fall would have enough kinetic energy to do that, and it seems that plenty of 2 inch stones have been picked up from fresh strewn-fields from land that did not show much, if any, sign of impact pitting or marking. The cases of meteorites penetrating houses and so forth have been significantly larger that 2 inches in diameter, and remember the mass of such objects increases with the cube of diameter. It's an interesting story and I am curious as to what did in fact make that hole, but I doubt it's a meteorite. Frank Prochaska -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Saturday, January 04, 2003 9:46 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [meteorite-list] A Meteorite Now Doin' 20mph in the fast lane..... Many of us get a chance to investigate freshly reported meteorite falls of which 99.99% are quickly resolved. Here's one that's going to remain a mystery. I've just spoken with a 72-year-old gentleman who believes that a meteorite fell through his R.V. All of the information contained herein is from this individual and I haven't researched the particulars. The alleged event occurred last September, at about 7:30PM during a sunset obscured by threatening clouds. The Lehigh Acres, Florida retiree, was parked at a campground on the banks of the Potomac River. He believes he endured "a warning shot from God" when an object crashed into the roof of his 30' (9 m) Itasca motorhome penetrating the fiberglass roof, continuing through 3/8" (8 mm) plywood ("the hole looked rounded like someone hit it with a ballpeen hammer"), apparently becoming embedded somewhere within 4" (10 cm) of hard foam insulation. He was standing next to the door of his R.V. (recreational vehicle) when he heard the crash. He looked up to see what was falling, and told me upon questioning that he saw no smoketrail. However, his view was blocked by adjacent trees in a wooded area with threatening skies. He said that "had it been 12" (30 cm) over, it would have hit me in the head." He crawled up the ladder attached to the side of the vehicle high enough to note that there were no tree branches that had fallen. He observed a 2" (5 cm.) diameter hole and that the object had continued through the plywood ceiling. He was surprised at the angle of descent and estimated it at 45-60 degrees from the West. It was going to rain so he covered the hole with plastic, and called his insurance agent. A Hartford Insurance representative visited the next day and assessed the damage as due to "either a meteorite or a falling object from a plane." Because rain was still imminent, repairmen immediately repaired the fiberglass roof without searching for the object possibly embedded somewhere in the insulation. No one thought it was worth the trouble. Notably, this gentleman tells me that the campground is across from a US Government military installation in Indian Head, Maryland, an area of restricted airspace. Kevin Kichinka ______________________________________________ Meteorite-list mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list ______________________________________________ Meteorite-list mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
