www.niger-meteorite-recon.de Meteoritica go to page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | historic sources for sale Inventory # C 023 Eine Leitform der Meteoriten. Von W. Haidinger Wirklichem Mitgliede der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Mit 2 Tafeln. Aus dem XL. Bande des Jahrganges 1860 der Sitzungsberichte der mathem.-naturwissenschaftlichen Classe. Wien 1860 In his remarkable work and by reffering to earlier papers of Kenngott and Reichenbach Haidinger draws a line from the physics of the meteoritic flight to shape and surface texture of individual meteoritic masses. In contradiction to other scientists of his time he comes to the conclusion that stone meteorites are already in their final shape and certainly cold when passing through the last several kilometers of earth's atmosphere. "Leitform der Meteoriten" provides a comprehensive description of the processes responsible for shaping meteoritic rocks during the hot phase of the flight. The paper was among the first publications on this particular subject and suggests several ideas on fragmentation processes of meteorites that are accepted by science until present. On the basis of examples from the Stannern and the Gross-Divina meteorite falls Haidinger describes the conditions under which certain meteorites can maintain a stable or semi-stable flight. The two plates picturing these oriented stones belong to the premium examples of the genre. The grade of detail in reflection of light and plasticity of surface texture of these colored drawings remained superior to any kind of photographical approach for more than hundred years. In fact the first photographical reproductions of meteorites in the last quarter of the 19th century meant a major step backwards for the depiction of meteoritic masses in science and literature. Inventory # C-080 Ueber die näheren Bestandtheile des Meteoreisens By Frhrn. v. Reichenbach. XVI. Das Bandeisen und XVII Das Fülleisen. In: Annalen der Physik und Chemie. Ed. by J.C. Poggendorff. Vol. CXIV. No. 2, 1861, Nr. 10, Leipzig 1861 Carl Friedrich Freiherr von Reichenbach, discoverer of the paraffin, was a keen German philosopher and natural scientist of the early 19th century. His passion for meteorites awoke with the fall of the Blansko meteorite in today's Czech Republic which occurred in 1833. Reichenbach, who at this time worked as a chemist in the smelteries of Baron Salm in Blasko, had his workers search for the meteorite several days before it was found. The event was the seed of what would become one of the largest private meteorite collections of his time. After Reichenbach had become the first to isolate, describe and name the "Kamacit" as a member of the Widmannstätten structure he turned to describe the "band iron" and the "filling iron" in the present 1861 article. After he had mechanically isolated, chemically analyzed and described the band iron Reichenbach suggested the term "Taenit" for it, derived from the Greek word for "ribbon or belt". For the filling iron Reichenbach introduced the term "Plessit", after the Greek word for "to fill or to replenish". This is the first mentioning of the terms in the history of meteoritics. For the optical exemplification Reichenbach used the two methods common at his time to visualize the diferrent components: etching with diluted acetic acid and heating and subsequent analyzing of the annealing colors. The chemical analysis of the metalurgical components was provided by Reichenbach's son, also a respected chemist at that time. His findings suggested among others the relative high Ni content of the taenite component. The 1861 volume of the "Annalen der Physik und Chemie" also includes the first publication of the confirmation of nitrogen in meteoritic iron (Boussingault: Stickstoff in Meteoreisen, S. 336) Boussignault, inspired by the results of French chemists who had recently detected nitrogen in artificial steel, conducted his successful experiment on a sample of the Lenarto meteorite. He found it to contain 0.00011 volume percent nitrogen. Inventory # C-078 Der Meteorit von Goalpara in Assam nebst Bemerkungen über die Rotation der Meteoriten im Fluge. Von Hofrath W. Ritter v. Haidinger. In: Sitzungsberichte der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vol. LIX, IV. and V. book. Vienna 1869 While continuing his studies on the question of orientation Haidinger gets the opportunity to describe yet another magnificent example of a meteorite shaped by a stable atmospheric flight. In 1868 a 2.7kg urelite dropped from the sky in the Province of Assam near Goalpara in India. Haidinger had access to first hand ressources. These included a gypsum cast, a 164g fragment of the stone, the detailed report by Dr. Th. Oldham, the descriptive drawings done on behalf of the curator of the Vienna collection, Stoliczka, in three perspectives and last but not least the drawings which were fabricated on behalf of Dr. G. Tschermak. The latter was the director of the Vienna Museum at that time. The drawings ordered by Tschermak are displayed above and below in half their origal size. They were accomplished by the famous drawer and litographer R. Schönne. Better than any conventional photograph they express the character, shape and texture of the Goalpara stone in unmatched precision. Haidinger's description of the meteorite lasts three pages. It demonstrates how to evoke a lucid and perfect picture of a complex three dimensional object only by the definite and uncompromising use of language. He assigns brustseite and trailing side and explains the angle of the orientation and its shifting by giving the reader a 360 degree description of the double cone's profile. Haidinger compares the Goalpara meteorite with meteoritic masses of similar shape, for example the Durala stone described by Nevil Story Maskelyne (The London, Edinburgh and Dublin Philosophical Magazine, Ser. 4. Vol. XXV, 1863) and the Karakol meteorite as described by A. Goebel (1840). While discussing other examples of oriented masses, Haidinger corrects his earlier judgement on the directon of movement of the Gross Divina meteorite. He had interpreted the thick flow lines and melt ridges on the broad conical end as indications for lesser pressure and therefore assumed that this side was the trailing edge. It was only by the help of the Goalpora stone with its pronounced flow features on the obvious brustseite that Haidinger realized his previous error. [In our opinion Haidinger still failed to determine the direction of rotaion correctly on both, the Gross Divina and the Goalpara stone] click to continue go to page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | historic sources for sale     © 2001-2008 NigerMeteoriteRecon