Hello Astro list and meteorite list, I discovered a few months ago as I was examining my tektite collection that one of the regular $5.00 pieces that you get from rock shops (indochinite?) has a bubble in it. The bubble is about 1 mm indiameter. Is a bubble like this rare? The tektite is an odd looking thing with huge pits (big enough to stick your finger in) on one side, and a light frothy texture on the other side.
I have heard of bubbles in tektites before in an article I read somewhere. It said that the bubbles contain rarified ordinary air. If I remember correctly, this is believed to have resulted from the tektites forming in a column of low pressure air trailing the impacting meteorite. But wouldn't the low pressure air trailing the meteorite be dragged down from the upper atmosphere which has a different composition? I came up with a crazy alternative theory (I come up with a lot of these, too much spare time) that may eliminate this problem: In grade four, my teacher gave a science demonstration. She placed a metal container onto a hot plate, this heated the container and the air inside. Then she but a lid on the container and removed it from the heat source. As the air cooled it contracted, resulting in a lower pressure, the container collapsed. So, if a tektite solidified, somewhere under 2000 degrees, with a bubble in it, the air in the bubble would be at about 2000 degrees. Once the tektite solidified the air would be trapped in a bubble whose volume could no longer change. The air would still be at about 1500 degrees and when it cooled it would contract resulting in a low pressure within the bubble. Am I on to something or am I just crazy? ************************************************************ Graham Christensen [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.geocities.com/aerolitehunter _________________________________________________________________ Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger: http://messenger.msn.com ______________________________________________ Meteorite-list mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
