Is this a Meteorite?

[barberman]

Hello. I've had this 712 gram rock for 42 years. Last week I filed a little bit and it's all metal but NOT magnetic. But very heavy. Any comments or advice would be greatly appreciated. My grandparents always had a bunch of rocks they got on their trips to Arizona in the 1960's.

 

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[Georgivs]

Kinda looks like hematite to me, is that a bit of white rock on it? Pretty sure any meteorite that survived reentry would be entirely metallic.

 

[Red-Coat]

It's not true that "any meteorite that survived re-entry would be entirely metallic". The are many different classes of meteorite, some of which have no metallic content at all.

What is true is that anything which you find which has a significant amount of visible metal but is not attracted to a magnet will NOT be a meteorite. Visible metal in meteorites is always a mixture of iron plus a proportion of nickel and will always be strongly magnetic.

Hematite does not usually have a silvery metallic appearance. From what I can see, I would suspect it's some kind of non-ferrous alloy and most likely a man-made industrial product or byproduct.

 

[RTH]

Try taking it to a local college geology lab. It does have that look to it, but I am surprised to hear it is non magnetic. Good Luck

 

[Red-Coat]

Just to repeat, a visibly metallic meteorite will ALWAYS be strongly magnetic. Not only would it be surprising if it wasn't... it would be a world first!

 

[A2coins]

Good to ask for opinions I would take it somewhere to be looked at its too hard to tell without it being in hand to test

 

[Red-Coat]

Just to clarify, because some people use the terms incorrectly...

MAGNETIC = attracted to a magnet.

MAGNETISED = behaves like a magnet and attracts magnetic metals.

If you really mean non-magnetic then you don't need anyone to look at it to tell you whether it's a meteorite. It isn't, unless it's the first known non-magnetic specimen and defies everything we currently know about differentiation of failed planetary bodies which produce meteorites. Someone may be able to tell you what it is from closer examination, but it's not a meteorite.

 

[barberman]

I believe I found the answer right here on Treasure Net.
http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/meteorites/110898-manganese-not-meteorite.html