A customer brought in a rock he found near the shop and asked if it was a meteorite

It happened last Tuesday, right at the front counter. He pulled this dark, heavy lump from his pocket and said, 'Found this in the gravel lot next door, think I got lucky?' I had to tell him it was just slag from old iron smelting, which is super common around here. You could see the little bubbles and the way it fractured. He looked a bit bummed, but we ended up talking for like twenty minutes about how to spot real space rocks versus industrial leftovers. Anyone else have a go-to trick for telling slag from something more exciting?

2 comments

2 Comments

rowan97218d ago

Wait, doesn't slag usually have a crust too from cooling in air?

rosel5018d ago

You mentioned the little bubbles as a sign it was slag, which is usually right. But I've seen a few real meteorites with vesicles too, from gases trapped as they melted coming in. The real giveaway is the crust. A fresh meteorite has that thin, dark fusion crust, almost like a painted eggshell. Slag just doesn't get that. It's more of a bubbly skin. The crust check has never let me down.