Re: Excalibar and Eogan's apologizes

[Gene Bonar <gbonar@auspex.com>]

Poster: Gene Bonar <gbonar@auspex.com>

At 02:12 PM 4/15/98 -0400, Terry wrote:
(snip)
>I don't think speculation is out of line as long as the speculation and the
>facts are kept in orderly piles. 

I am really trying to be careful here.  There's speculation and then
there's wishful thinking.  If we are going to sit around and spin yards and
speculate about how this myth or that came into being, call me, I will
bring the cookies.  However, if you are trying to prove something existed
with no data to support your claim I'm afraid I'm going to have to insist
on a higher standard.

>Actually, few are pure iron although they're closer to pure iron than would
>be found on earth naturally. Most are a combination of iron and nickel with
>some carbon common. Does anyone know how well iron-nickel does in a forge?

Well this is what I get for pontificating outside of my specialty. <wry
grin>  Rather than pure iron I should have said elemental iron, I guess.
The point being that meteors don't fall into the atmosphere an amorphous
blob of diverse elements, heat up and land a chuck of steel.  I think
Stephan's question was if a chuck of steel form and landed on earth or more
to the point Southern England it could ....

>Being a geologist, I have no idea how much iron it takes to make a sword.
>But one of my astronomy professors had a meteorite he was using as a door
>stop that was a good 45#. Would that be enough? 

45# would be enough to make several swords.  I've seen and touched
meteorites, several large ones (none 45# though) that would be of
sufficient size to make a sword.  None of them happened to be steel.  For
the postulate to hold it would have to be steel, not an iron/nickel/carbon
blob.  Those happen to be the elements (amongst others) that go into making
steel, but I'm asking can the alloy be formed in the manner put forth, and
if so is there ANY empirical data showing that such a chuck fell in
Southern England or anywhere else.

>You're absolutely right. 

Thank you <grin>

>But there are other people who have more trouble suspending belief. I, for
one, >don't want to live in a fantasy. A rational world with lots left to
explore and >understand is far more appealing to me. I want to know why
things came to be- >either rock formations or mythologies. We'll never know
for sure, but as long as no >state, federal or scientific laws are
violated, what's wrong with thinking about it? 

You're also very right.  You know I wasn't going to participate in this
debate.  What happened?  

>Generica 
>    who's obviously been away from her rocks working on intranets for too
>long. 

Back to your rocks.  Send the gold ones to me.



Eógan mac Ailpein    archer and pursuivant
Elvegast, Windmasters' Hill, Atlantia
mka Gene Bonar  919.772.1112  gbonar@auspex.com
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