Meteorite? Please help! It’s magnetized.
Red-Coat
Gold Member
Welcome to Tnet. You’ve posted in the section for people needing technical assistance with the website but, no matter, and the Mods may well move your post to somewhere more appropriate. There is a “Meteorites” forum section.
What you found does not have an appearance which is characteristic for any kind of meteorite.
If you truly mean “magnetised” (behaves like a magnet), as opposed to “magnetic” (attracted to a magnet) then it’s likely a piece of terrestrial magnetite (or a magnetite-rich rock which may include other iron oxides), which is the only commonly-occurring mineral having that property. A streak test on the unglazed side of a ceramic tile will help confirm that. Magnetite streaks black to dark grey and the streak may have a reddish tinge if there are mixed oxides including hematite.
Meteorites are generally not magnetised, with magnetite only being a trace to minor component in some classes. The highest levels are found in the rare class of CK chondrites, and that certainly isn’t a meteorite of that class. Even then, the levels only range between about 1% to 8% and that’s not enough to give a meteorite significant magnetisation. A large CK chondrite at the upper end of that range might have slight but discernible magnetisation.
Also, magnetisation is lost when a material is raised to a temperature above its ‘Curie point’ and then becomes ‘paramagnetic’, without the property of behaving as a magnet. For magnetite, that would be above about 570 °C (1,060 °F), and for iron it would be about 770 °C (1418 °F). Consequently, small meteorites and the surface parts of larger ones which have reached those kinds of temperatures during atmospheric passage would lose any such properties.
What you found does not have an appearance which is characteristic for any kind of meteorite.
If you truly mean “magnetised” (behaves like a magnet), as opposed to “magnetic” (attracted to a magnet) then it’s likely a piece of terrestrial magnetite (or a magnetite-rich rock which may include other iron oxides), which is the only commonly-occurring mineral having that property. A streak test on the unglazed side of a ceramic tile will help confirm that. Magnetite streaks black to dark grey and the streak may have a reddish tinge if there are mixed oxides including hematite.
Meteorites are generally not magnetised, with magnetite only being a trace to minor component in some classes. The highest levels are found in the rare class of CK chondrites, and that certainly isn’t a meteorite of that class. Even then, the levels only range between about 1% to 8% and that’s not enough to give a meteorite significant magnetisation. A large CK chondrite at the upper end of that range might have slight but discernible magnetisation.
Also, magnetisation is lost when a material is raised to a temperature above its ‘Curie point’ and then becomes ‘paramagnetic’, without the property of behaving as a magnet. For magnetite, that would be above about 570 °C (1,060 °F), and for iron it would be about 770 °C (1418 °F). Consequently, small meteorites and the surface parts of larger ones which have reached those kinds of temperatures during atmospheric passage would lose any such properties.
sprailroad
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