‘Is it worth anything?’ ‘I dunno, is the answer to that question worth another $5?’

https://xkcd.com/3068/

  • LovableSidekick@lemmy.world
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    5 days ago

    Speaking of this, my wife has a dark gray rock about the size of a silver dollar she found many years ago in our front yard, within a mile of the shore of Puget Sound. It’s broken, with a reflective crystalline-looking structure inside, and a magnet attracts it. Anybody know how likely it is to be meteoric iron?

    • Droggelbecher@lemmy.world
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      4 days ago

      Edit: I was wrong, see below! Shouldn’t have assumed simulating active galactic nuclei would make me knowledgeable about asteroids.

      Astrophysicist, not a geologist here. Maybe if you sent a pic I might recognize it. But it’s kind of unlikely, since afaik crystals from under great pressures, which meteorites don’t tend to undergo like that.

      • Angry_Autist (he/him)@lemmy.world
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        4 days ago

        Not only under pressure but under very slow cooling as what happens in the centers of asteroids

        The rhomboid crystal structure of meteor iron was set long before that particular rock entered our atmosphere and is visible in many, MANY museum pieces.