[meteorite-list] Meteor Crater Guide(?)

From: Julien.Courtois_at_gr.admin.ch <Julien.Courtois_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:55:47 2004
Message-ID: <E9C5C43B5C21D21186CA08002BB1068F03CFAAF6_at_mgrsex01.ber.gr.admin.ch>

Hello!

Short answer: YES, meteorites are radioactive, BUT not dangerous to humans.

for a longer answer, please take your copy of "meteorites and their parent
bodies" by Harry Y. McSween, and look in the index for "spalliation"
(sp???). By measuring the radioactivity of freshly fallen meteorites, you
can compute the exposure age of it. This have to be done rather quickly, as
this radioactivity is induced by cosmic rays, and the elements thus created
are rather short-lived.

I hope that helps,

Julien


-----Original Message-----
From: Dave Mouat [mailto:dmouat_at_dri.edu]
Sent: Thursday, January 17, 2002 5:22 AM
To: Impactika_at_aol.com
Cc: meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Meteor Crater Guide(?)


With some trepidation I respond: "radioactive" is one of those words that
are difficult to accurately define; however the laws of physics (sorry
Michael B) state that all objects having temperatures above absolute zero
emit radiation at all wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum. This is
something that we teach in remote sensing 101 and could be used to state
that all meteorites are radioactive.
As one of the characters in Buckaroo Bonsai said at the end of the movie:
"so what, big deal".
Dave
Received on Thu 17 Jan 2002 03:55:32 AM PST