Meteorites are rocks from planets other than the earth, because they were formed at the very beginning of the formation of the solar system, unlike the frequent occurrence of geological structures on the earth, and the original rocks at the time of the formation of the earth have long been impossible to find on the surface of the earth, so the formation of the solar system cannot be understood through the earth's rocks, and meteorites have become the only physical samples to understand the formation and evolution of the solar system, the origin of organic matter and the space environment of the solar system.
This is like archaeologists who can learn about the structure, design, and style of ancient Chinese architecture hundreds of years ago through the study of the architecture of the Forbidden City. The study of ancient people and ancient life is to understand the evolution of human civilization and how we formed our current civilization step by step. The study of meteorites is to know how the solar system came into being, how the earth ......and, in general, the study of human origins.
Suicheng Olive Meteorite.
In human space exploration, the study of the experience of meteorites falling to the earth can understand the process that spacecraft needs to go through when returning to Earth, so as to achieve early preventive measures.
What elements do meteorites contain? It is the most important part of meteorite identificationOnly by knowing what elements a meteorite contains and what elements it does not contain can we know whether it is a meteorite or not. In the meteorite identification method, scientific elemental composition analysis is the consensus of meteorite identification, and it is also the final way to identify meteorites.
Gujba carbonaceous chondrite meteorite.
Regardless of what kind of items, in the elemental analysis, they are all composed of elements, rocks (including earth rocks and rocks from planets other than the earth (meteorites)) are composed of different minerals, and minerals are composed of different elements, minerals are divided into silicate minerals and metal minerals;
How do you know what elements a meteorite contains? We take peridotite, the main component rock of the earth, as an example, peridotite is composed of two silicate minerals, olivine and pyroxene, so in the elemental analysis, the elemental composition of peridotite is a combination of olivine and pyroxene, of which olivine is a silicate of magnesium and iron, so the chemical element of olivine is mafic iron silicon.
Bechar 003 lunar meteorite.
Among meteorites, olivine is the main component mineral of other meteorites except iron meteorites and medium iron meteorites, and the main component mineral, that is, it accounts for a large proportion, so the proportion of chemical elements in the whole rock is not low.
Take the most familiar olive meteorite as an example, the olive particles are not as small as the stone meteorite, and the olive meteorite is a meteorite that can be identified with a clear eye and contains a large amount of olivineOlive meteoriteThe main constituent minerals are olivine, ironstone, nickel-grained stone, the main elements of olivine are mafic-silicon, iron-nickel elements, and nickel-grained elements are nickel-ironThe elemental composition of an olivine meteorite is composed of elements contained in the constituent minerals, the main elements it contains are silicon, magnesia, iron, nickelThe specific contrast of the elements is determined by the proportion of the constituent minerals contained. For example, the hand-held instruments on the market now measure the iron-nickel composition of meteorites, mainly by whether they contain nickel to see whether they contain the earth, only the minerals contained in meteorite, nickel-grained stone, meteorite iron, although it is impossible to distinguish stone meteorites and artificial meteorites, but can be preliminarily screened.
Wulong olive meteorite section.
Therefore, when it comes to identifying meteorites,To understand what elements a meteorite contains, you first need to know which minerals are contained in the corresponding meteorite species and the proportion of each mineral (such as major and minor minerals).Stony meteorites, stony iron meteorites, and iron meteorites contain different main minerals, and their main element composition is different, and the subdivided subclass meteorites have different compositions in secondary minerals, and the composition of secondary elements is also differentThe proportion of minerals contained in the whole is different, and the composition of each element is also different；In addition, in addition to knowing the minerals contained in meteorites, we also need to know what meteorites do not contain, which is also the basis for meteorite element analysis.
The article comes from the Hunan Zhongli Collection Appraisal Center, which is a legal third-party professional identification platform in China, does not participate in any transactions, and uses instruments to analyze the chemical composition of the whole rock by instrument for suspected meteorites, and compares the analysis results with the meteorite data of relevant countries in the country, so as to accurately and scientifically determine whether it is a meteorite, what kind of meteorite it is, and make the corresponding reference ** evaluation according to the meteorite variety, the process is open and transparent, the collector can participate in the whole process, the certificate has been highly recognized by professionals and all walks of life, and the meteorite identification can be consulted.