It is certainly possible to devise entry scenarios where meteorites have
unusually large velocities. But I'd maintain these are rare cases, and a
fall such as I described (and the Noblesville) would be far more common. And
even in the case of the two Wethersfield falls, I'm not sure we can conclude
that the velocities were all that high. My reference for the 1971 fall says
nothing about the meteorite "zinging around", only that it penetrated the
roof and partially penetrated the plaster ceiling. Not unreasonable for a
350 g stone at terminal velocity. It was the 1982 fall that bounced around
inside, and that was 2750 g- obviously a lot higher KE even at a normal
terminal velocity.
And in the 19th century, people had their arms (or worse) amputated
sometimes for the most trivial of injuries, so I'm not sure what we can
conclude about that meteorite, either.
BTW, the 2004 Berthoud (Colorado) fall (960 g) was another whirrr, thud
event. It made a little dent in the ground, and might have been capable of
breaking an arm. A trivial injury today, but not necessarily 150 years ago.
Chris
*****************************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Sterling K. Webb" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Meteorite List" <meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Wednesday, June 21, 2006 10:31 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Meteorite from Jupiter-- uh, I mean TO Jupiter
Hi,
On the subject of small stones hitting people
and houses). Consider WETHERSFIELD (Connecticut), a small town of 26,271
people (2000 census).
On April 8, 1971, a small energetic stone penetrated a home, zinged
around inside, and came to rest without hitting anybody. It was
sufficiently energetic to penetrate a sound roof,
2nd floor ceiling, 2nd floor/ceiling to living
room, and bounce off several surfaces, damaging
them, before stopping. Obviously, it could have
caused considerable damage to an unprotected human, like the Garza stone
in PARK FOREST (Illinois) could have done.
Ok, ok, this sort of thing happens, even in Wethersfield. Almost worth
the brief attention you get. I can imagine calling your insurance agent,
"You want to report -- what? ASTEROID damage?!"
Then, on November 8, 1982, a small energetic stone penetrated ANOTHER
home in Wethersfield in the SAME neighborhood, zinged around inside, and
came to rest without hitting anybody, about an half a mile away from the
first home! Both stones were both L6's, of similar compositions (but
different exposure ages). Coincidence or leprachauns?
Historically, there are a great number of accounts, many of hits
directly on human beings, besides the poor Alabama lady, who only got a
really colorful and painful bruise after the meteorite holed the house!.
A Swedish man was struck by a meteorite in the arm. The arm was so
damaged that it had to be amputated!
The (preserved) arm, by the way, is buried with him, but nobody knows what
became of the stone. This case occurred in the nineteenth century but was
unknown
outside of Sweden until this century, and was investigated
by Sky & Telescope magazine, but I can't find the year...
On the other hand, consider The NOBLESVILLE (Indiana) stone that is the
classic close approach fall case, perfect in every detail: "The stone
passed two witnesses, Brodie Spaulding and Brian Kinzie, who observed it
land 3.56m in front of them on the lawn in front of a house. No light or
sound except for the whirring sound as it passed and the thud in the
ground was noticed. It is an oriented specimen with well-developed flight
markings, weight 483.7g." Just after dusk on a perfect midwestern summer
night, two boys are standing talking in the front yard in the new hush of
evening, when... Whirrr. Thud.
According to the report, this 1 pound plus stone didn't
even dent the soft soil. Obviously, it would NOT have taken the arm off of
one of the two hapless teenagers if it had
struck them, whereas the damage to the Swedish man
was reported to be as if he had been struck by a small
cannon shot or several close musket shots.
The velocity, hence energy, of a small stone varies
considerably. The Noblesville report of whirring indicates
that the stone was in rapid rotary motion, interacting aerodynamically,
and was engaged in a kind of "flight" or glide that retarded it.
Every small fall is different.
Sterling K. Webb
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