Random meteorite from Oman - free for teachers

[lumpOgold]

Any teachers or other educators that want a real meteorite from Oman can message me and I'll send one to you school address in the US. (non-US people will need to pay for shipping or send me a shipping label.) Don't send me your personal address, just the school address and I'll send you either a single 50 gram or an assortment of smaller meteorites. Just let me know, I'd be glad to give you 10 5 gram pieces or 20 3 gram or a single beautiful piece.
I also just received a box of Sikhote Alin meteorites from Russia, the meteorite fell in 1947 and it is almost pure iron. Very interesting grain structures inside the meteorite.

These were collected personally in October 2008 in Oman, in the Dhofar area of Oman, close to the Empty Quarter. These are common chondrite meteorites, no special value except the are rocks that fell from space! I'll include a location within 1 mile of the actual collection area.

I'll also include a sample of frankincense and myrrh in the package, a very interesting aroma that pervades the Arabian Peninsula.

 

[msolorio3]

Yo! lump0gold, are you serious!!?? My students would go nuts to see a real meteorite.

 

[lumpOgold]

I'm serious! Just like the tomato seed giveaway, I have a surplus of meteorites, frankincense and myrrh in my closet that don't excite your kids sitting in there.
you can PM me your school address, or if you know teachers ask them if you can share their info (or I can PM my email to you). I've sent meteorites to San Diego, Minnesota, Kentucky, São Carlos, Brazil and many other fun places.

 

[JayDubya]

VERY nice of you. I've sent an email to my brother to get his school info. I'll bet he'll be interested in taking you up on the offer.

 

[lumpOgold]

The more the merrier! I'm not going broke yet, but I hope that I can reach a lot of teachers and their students.

 

[earplugs]

Nice try, Dea agent.

 

[lumpOgold]

No pudding for you! I don't want your personal info and usually only send to school addresses, so unless the dealer is your kids teacher, what's the risk?

 

[lumpOgold]

Hi all, a quick update on the meteorites. I've been working on them, but home life has taken over the past 10 days or so. And slicing them is taking a LOT longer than planned. Regular diamond blades have proven ineffective and I've had to up the game to sintered cubic boron nitride blades.

The iron meteorites (Sikhote Alin) and the pallasite (Brahin) will be going in the polisher this week followed by a quick acid etch to bring out any internal structures. I WILL be sending them out eventually.

 

[JayDubya]

You & I have already covered this via PM but I think's it a good idea to put an update out here for those who were interested. Thanks again

 

[Goldhedge]

Thanks for the update. School will be out in 3 months...

 

[lumpOgold]

Thanks for the update. School will be out in 3 months...

If I'm not done before that I'll really be crying. I just ordered more blades for the saw, they are supposed to cut much faster. Right now it takes over an hour to cut a 1" thick iron meteorite.

 

[JayDubya]

lump, I don't want to put you on the spot, but how's about another progress report when you get the chance?
Thanks
JW

 

[lumpOgold]

Hi all, I can't believe it's taking so LONG to get this done.

Sorry for the slow response to all of the requests, the blades break so easily when cutting the iron meteorites and then it takes a week or more to get new ones from the manufacturer, causing a serious setback in getting the meteorite sets put together. To get them out faster I may have to skip polishing the iron Sikhote Alin meteorite from Russia.
All of you will get an assortment of space rocks or slices of them to share in your classes eventually. :-)

 

[JayDubya]

Thanks! Sorry this turned out to be a huge PITA for you.

 

[lumpOgold]

Exactly, I should've gotten the rocks ready BEFORE opening my big yap!

 

[Scorpio]

Is there a machine shop with a laser cutter near you?

That is pretty cool that it is eating blades like that

 

[lumpOgold]

And these are sintered blades made of diamonds or cubic boron nitride in a metal matrix. It takes about 30-45 minutes to cut an iron meteorite, but about 5 minutes to cut a "normal" stony meteorite. The iron ones are SO hard because the iron is crystalline.

 

[lumpOgold]

Alright I made some progress this week, I have a pile of them all sliced up and almost ready to ship, just need a couple days of polishing. It looks like the packages will be going out this weekend, at least that and mowing the lawn are priorities this coming weekend.

 

[Goldhedge]

Sweet! Teachers are curious to see what you have created for them!

 

[JayDubya]

VERY COOL
Thanks again!

 

[lumpOgold]

Quick update, everything is FINALLY ready except for the textbooks. The donor accidentally shipped me the French version of the meteorite book (Meteorites by Alain Carion). If you can read French I can send them out, but I'd prefer to send the English version which should arrive any day now. Sorry it's taken so long, and I admit I jumped the gun in making this offer before I have my ducks all lined up.

 

[JayDubya]

Thanks for the update. I'll pass on the info to my brother.

 

[Hystckndle]

VERY cool thread. Thanks !

 

[lumpOgold]

Hi everyone,
The problem is my meteorite friends said I needed to send out a variety of samples to show the variety, from stony meteorites like the Oman ones to irons (sikhote Alin fell in Russia in 1947) from Russia. And then a pal gave me a bunch of Nantan (China 500AD) and about 3 kilograms of Brahin pallasite (found in Belarus). Then I was given several meteorites from Northwest Africa and I felt it would be best to prepare all of them properly. My wife is tired of me polishing rocks and putting them in small gem boxes or membrane boxes.

Everyone WILL get a nice set of 5 different meteorites, from nice stony crustal ones to iron rich ones from planetoid cores. The pallasites are very rare coming from the interface between the core and mantle rocks. My friend was very generous giving me over $5000 worth of the pallasite materials. STEM education is very important to some people.
Of course these were rather rusty old samples that needed some work, I seriously underestimated how much work out would take.

Then a dealer from the Denver area offered to give me some meteorite books, she accidentally sent French language versions . I'm currently waiting for the English language versions.

Anyway, I'll get these out to everyone eventually. In the meantime subscribe to Sloth Facts on Facebook
https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1718078755129874

Nelson

 

[lumpOgold]

Ok, after 3 months I finally have the kits ready. The big delay was dealing with various dealers that wanted me to make sure it was explanatory and educational, not just gee-whiz that's interesting event for the kids.

So instead of just tossing a few rocks in a box, I prepared samples of meteorites that represent most of the major meteorite classes: irons from a planetary core , stony chondrites from mantle rock and then a pallasite from the interface between the core and mantle. Plus examples of common meteorites, a nice old iron shale from China (~600 AD) and a complete meteorite and small fragments from Oman (6000 BCE). I'm also putting in the meteorite book, some frankincense and myrrh and lastly a few little magnets to feel the different amounts of iron with the meteorites.

 

[JayDubya]

Thanks again!

 

[Fiat Metaler]

just received mine - WOW! we homeschool, and its sometimes a challenge to motivate our son. He opened the box and was wild about the frankinscence and myrhh. We're going to take it on his scout camping trip next week so more boys can smell it. he wouldn't stop talking about it - i had to explain that the rest of the box contained actual meteorites!! thank you very much, we'll make sure these are shown off.

 

[Goldhedge]

Yes indeedy!

This is a very fine collection of specimens! The teachers were blown away by the detailed letter and the book!

Thank you Lump!

 

[lumpOgold]

Glad to hear they arrived safe and sound, hearing that the kids are excited is awesome. If you don't want to burn the frankincense/myrrh you can put it in hot/simmering water, though the resin will ruin whatever pot you use. Or add to potpourri when it loses it's aroma.