Micrometeorites

[Christopher John Pickford]

As a school project for one of my daughters, I collected micrometeorites on a 5×4 m plastic sheet laid out on grass over a w/end when meteor activity was expected, then swept the sheet with a powerful magnet wrapped in clingfilm. I removed the dust, cleaned it up and separated the ferromagnetic part by washing the residue in water and then methanol on a magnetic stirrer, and then analysed the residue using plasma atomic emission spectrometry. The Fe/Ni ratios were correct for typical iron meteorites. I had about 2 mg of residue.There were also some glassy beads present that looked like emissions from power stations or some other combustion source.