While searching for a control point in an ag field this morning I got a loud buzz from the Schonestedt in about the right location and turned up the item pictured below.?ÿ It looked unusual to me at first glance, so I picked it up.?ÿ It doesn't look like the bits of scrap iron I'm accustomed to seeing in the field, and I'm wondering if it might be a meteorite.?ÿ The online guides I checked out didn't leave me with a positive ID one way or the other (it *is* strongly attracted to a magnet though, so must be mostly iron).?ÿ I thought I'd see if we have any meteorite experts here who'd care to weigh in.
P.S.?ÿ I never did find the control point.
Cool!
I'm not an expert, but I vote yes. I understand that the best places to find them are in the desert, since there's less moisture to drive the rusting process, and less vegetation to bury them. It stands to reason that they should be found occasionally in non-desert areas.
I thought I'd see if we have any meteorite experts here who'd care to weigh in.
Too bad Nearly Normal doesn??t participate anymore. If memory serves me correctly, he was stricken in the cranium by one while mowing the ??grass? one sunny afternoon. ?????ÿ
I found something long ago that I thought might be a meteorite. Similar looking to what you've got and magnetic.?ÿ Found it on a frozen lake.
After some research I decided it was slag.
Not sure how it got where it was found.
I vote for meteorite.
But, there are other things that CAN be found.?ÿ Ball bearings, grape shot, cannon balls, etc.?ÿ A buddy found what looked a great deal like a shot put while digging a water line trench years ago.?ÿ I saw it and agreed it was the same size and approximate weight as the shot puts I tossed in high school.
After some research I decided it was slag.
Slag is a possibility, as I found this only about 200 feet from a railroad.?ÿ But this is much denser than the slag I've handled -- it seems more like pure iron -- and is shaped differently.
Too bad Nearly Normal doesn??t participate anymore. If memory serves me correctly, he was stricken in the cranium by one while mowing the ??grass? one sunny afternoon.
If he had been hit in the head by the thing I found, he'd be dead.?ÿ It's a dense little bugger.
If memory serves, he was hit somewhere on the arm.
Drop it at the geology department of a local university, maybe they can figure out what it is.
UC Davis Earth and Planetary Sciences Department
Tell them you found the musket ball that killed Hiram Q. Fenniwick in 1803.
Jim, I sent a link to our staff geologist to see what she says.?ÿ She's out on vacation this week but I'll share her response when I get it.?ÿ Cool find.
Tell them you found the musket ball that killed Hiram Q. Fenniwick in 1803.
Were musket balls iron or lead?
I'm pretty sure most musket balls were lead. I'd think Iron would be too hard on the barrel.?ÿ Iron or lead was used for large cannon balls and cluster shot/case shot/canister shot.
Apparently, most were made of lead, but iron was also used.
Is there any chance that a cement plant was located nearby.?ÿ The process of turning the raw rock into powder uses a tumbling tub filled with shot put sized iron balls.?ÿ They wear down through use to become far smaller before new shot are added into the tub.?ÿ It could be one of those somebody took home with them.
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