Hi mexicodoug, et al, Does anyone have evidence of what really happens (i.e. explode or fragment) with meteors/meteoroids that pass through the atmosphere? I'm a newbie and therefore not pretending to know what I'm talking about, but it would seem to me that there are some meteors/meteroids that COULD have gases trapped in their molecular structure that COULD heat up and actually explode during their fiery passage through our atmosphere. Large meteors wouldn't do this because their internal temperatures never increase at all (they are still as cold as the space environment where they have been traveling for eons), but small friable meteors like Carancas could possibly have gases in them that could heat up and therefore explode in our atmosphere.
That is just a guess, not a fact, so please no flames. ;-) I'm just trying to get these ideas out of my head and get some explanations for them. Alcohol doesn't stop the voices, it just s l o w s t h e m d o w n . . . :-) Regards, Bob -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, March 19, 2008 10:08 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Further thoughts Pete wrote: "Some will be blown up and some will be blown down." I believe this is a common misconception for many in the meteorite community and common thought. I don't think anything is "blowing up". Simply fragmenting. Each part of the original whole maintains its portion of momentum upon fragmentation. The direction of the momentum is along the angle of entry. There is no blowing up in that sense of a bomb which propells fragments in all directions as there is no internal source of energy (like in a chemical explosive). The only dispersion will be caused by different frictional (aerodynamic effects) deviations like sticking your hand out the car window and using yourwrist as an aileron. If your fingers fell off your hand, there would be no explosion, and nothing being blown forward either :-) Best health, Doug sorry - now caught up with the good replies on this topic, we just got electricity internet, etc. back after the nuclear winter our city experienced yesterday where we couldn't see the Sun on a clear day -----Original Message----- From: Pete Shugar <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com Sent: Wed, 19 Mar 2008 10:45 am Subject: [meteorite-list] Further thoughts Consider the Fireball. When the (soon to be) meteorite explodes into a fireball, the pieces are blown in every direction, Those blown in the direction that the meteor came from which should give them a negative speed and as such will start to drop first. Those in the direction of travel give the furtherest reach from the above mentioned pieces. This will define the outside distance of the strewnfield. Some will be blown up and some will be blown down. I would suspect that those that are blown downward would be the first to reach ground as these will be accelarated and those that are blown upward must go up before they can come down, so they should be the last to reach the ground. This means that the middle of the strewnfield is the first to be populated as well as the last to be populated. The two ends fill up in between the first and last parts of the fall. Anyone care to check? I don't think I missed anything, but I'm not an EXPERT, just using deductive reasoning. Pete ______________________________________________ http://www.meteoritecentral.com Meteorite-list mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list ______________________________________________ http://www.meteoritecentral.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list ______________________________________________ http://www.meteoritecentral.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list