Meteorites are (often) attracted to magnets because they (often) contain
highly ferromagnetic materials- mainly iron and nickel. Certainly, iron
meteorites can be made strongly magnetic. I've got small samples that are
magnetic enough to stick to steel plates, just from having a magnet rubbed
against them. I'm sure that if you wanted to heat up an iron meteorite to
its Curie point while in a magnetic field, you'd produce a fine permanent
magnet. Most collectors aren't very interested in doing this experiment,
however <g>.
Stone meteorites don't generally contain enough iron to have enough of a
field to stick to something, but most stones will deflect a compass needle,
demonstrating that they, too, can hold a permanent magnetic field.
Chris
*****************************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Pete Shugar" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, October 20, 2009 10:06 PM
Subject: [meteorite-list] Re Meteorites and Magnets
I have done a lot of research and many experiments
and now I am about ready to write an article, proposing
a theory as to why meteorites are attracted to a magnet,
but the meteorite can't be made into a magnet.
Stay tuned........
Pete IMCA 1733
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