Re: Meteors and Swords

[Terry Theisen <ttheisen@ezwv.com>]

Poster: Terry Theisen <ttheisen@ezwv.com>

At 11:11 PM 4/15/98, you wrote:
>This is where it's getting kinda interesting.  An area I've only begun
>delving, so much I say is open to clarification by meteor scientists (I
>know they aren't meteorologists, so what IS the correct specialty?) and
>materials scientists.
>
Like most things, the vast majority of scientists wouldn't agree on a
single name. The science is sometimes called meteoritics. 

>Meteors are a combination of iron and nickel and carbon (or so says one who
>has studied such).  How are the proportions different from more mundane
>iron ores easily mined in the Middle Ages?

Well, ya got me on the ores in the British Isles (but you've given me
something to research), but nickel in meteors can run from less than 5% to
more than 20%, so you've got quite a range to play with. The carbon (and
copper, cobalt, platinum etc) are minor, but the amount of carbon increases
the farther out from the center of the parent planetoid the meteor was
derived from. 
All I know is meteors. I'd love to find out how hard it is to make steel
from something like that. When was steel first made deliberately?

>hm... (toddling off enumerating the books to look into in the morning)
>
>Theodora von Schmetterlingswald		jgugler@mindspring.com

Hmm... I know I've got ore petrology books around here somewhere. Well, I
have the materials to look up whatever I need, but I'd love to hear what a
metallurgist thinks. 

Generica Carrick				ttheisen@ezwv.com 
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