[meteorite-list] Heating tektites

From: almitt <almitt_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:32:55 2004
Message-ID: <406738D3.8CF0173E_at_kconline.com>

Hi Rob and all,

I bought a bunch of tektites once and had a few defects that I experimented on. A
friend and I heated up a not so good looking tektite. It first took a long time to
heat up with a direct flame from a welding torch. I am not sure how hot my friend said
the torch went up to but some where between 2,000 and 3,000 degrees F. I warned him of
possible air pockets that might make it explode so he wore some good grade goggles to
heat with and some other protective clothing.

We heated it up until it was red hot which took a good number of minutes. Then finally
it started to get white hot and melted to some degree very slowly. Took a long time to
cool (probably because we were wanting to handle it after it did cool). I didn't
notice any real color change for the short time it was molten. It still seem to retain
it's natural color which I would expect if minerals are dissolved in the glass. If any
color change was noted it seem to have a slight bluish tinge to it but that could have
been from the fuel and discoloring it. That's my report.

--AL
Received on Sun 28 Mar 2004 03:42:59 PM PST