Meteors

E. Opik, Physics of Meteor Plight in the Atmosphere, Interscience PubHsliers, New York, 1958. 

Meteors produce atmospheric plasmas as their kinetic energy is converted to thermal energy (50). Most particles from space are consumed before they reach an altitude of 50 km. Meteors are of Httie practical use, although radio waves can be bounced off the plasmas left in their wakes (see Exthaterresthial materials). ... 

Pressure—temperature diagrams for the coesite—quart2 equilibrium have been summari2ed (23). Coesite has been found ia nature ia the meteor crater ia Ari2ona. 

Stishovite. Stishovite was first prepared (68) ia the laboratory ia 1961 at 1200—1400°C and pressures >16 GPa (158,000 atm). It was subsequentiy discovered, along with natural coesite, ia the Ari2ona meteor crater. It has been suggested that these minerals are geological iadicators of meteorite impact stmctures. Stishovite (p = 4.35 g/cm ) is the densest known phase of silica. The stmcture, space group P42/nmn is similar to that of... 

Some wave phenomena, familiar to many people from the human senses, include the easy undulation of water waves from a dropped stone or the sharp shock of the sonic boom from high-speed aircraft. The great power and energy of shock events is apparent to the human observer as he stands on the rim of the Meteor Crater of Arizona. Human senses provide little insight into the transition from these directly sensed phenomena to the high-pressure, shock-compression effects in solids. This transition must come from development of the science of shock compression, based on the usual methods of scientific experimentation, theoretical modeling, and numerical simulation. 

Meteoreisen, n. meteoric iron, meteorisch, a. meteoric (Med.) meteoristic. Meteorolog, Meteorologe, m. meteorolo t. meteorologisch, a. meteorological. 

Meteor-stahl, m. meteoric steel, -staub, m. meteoric dust, -stein, m. meteoric stone, aerolite. 

The substances we can use come primarily from the earth. In its movement around the sun, the earth sweeps through space and collects material from meteors and some cosmic dust, but the amount of gathered material is small compared with the amount present in the earth. We shall consider the material of the earth and see how it is put to use by mankind. 

Meteorites are of two kinds stony meteorites that are rock-like in character, and metallic meteorites that consist of metallic elements. The kinds of substances in the stony meteorites are very much like the substances in the crust of the earth, if we allow for the fact that the meteors could not bring gases or liquids with them. We feel that the other type, the metallic meteors, give valuable clues about the nature of the earth s central core. Experts have long believed that these meteorites are fragments from exploded planets that, perhaps, resembled the earth. 

Meteor Dynamite. A blasting expl manufd in the 19th century by the Oliver Powder Co of Wilkes Barre, Pa, USA. This company also manufd "Oliver s Flameless Dynamite ... 

Oliver s Flameless Dynamite. A safety mining expl, manufd in the last century by the Oliver Powder Company. Another Dynamite manufd by the same company was called Meteor Dynamite... 

About 70% of the western world s supply of nickel comes from iron and nickel sulfide ores that were brought close to the surface nearly 2 billion years ago by the violent impact of a huge meteor at Sudbury, Ontario. The ore is first roasted (heated in air) to form nickel(II) oxide, which is reduced to the metal either elec-trolytically or by reaction with hydrogen gas in the first step of the Mond process ... 

Na is likely deposited in the upper atmosphere by meteors along with other metals (Clemesha et al., 1981) and distributed by solar winds (Happer et al., 1994). This atomic layer is "eaten away" at its bottom by chemical reactions (e.g. molecule and aggregate formation). Fe, Al, Ca are more abundant than Na, but the D2 transition is so strong that it provides the largest product of column density CNa and transition cross section, nominally 10 — 10" atoms/cm. The layer has been studied mostly with Lidar technique (Blamont and Donahue, 1961 Albano et al., 1970 Bowman et al., 1969 Sarrazin, 2001). 

One reason soils form is because of the endless migration of ions, molecules, and particles into the soil from meteoric inputs. Examples of meteoric inputs include H2O, CO2, O2, nitrogenous compounds, pollutants, salts, and dust. These molecules and compounds come from space, from the atmosphere and the oceans, and from other terrestrial systems. 

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