Talk:Micrometeorite

A fact from Micrometeorite appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 24 February 2013 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that micrometeorites contribute most of the extraterrestrial material that comes to Earth?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2013/February. The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Micrometeorite.

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Feedback[edit]

The article has already gotten some feedback. In case nobody has seen it:
This article is an excellent beginning, but is missing info about the essential recent discoveries, like Dr Matthew Genge (Classification of Micrometeorites, Imperial College 2008), and Dr. M Shyam Prasad (2012) discovery of the platinum group nuggets, etc. I am sure this will be added asap. Thanks! Jon Larsen (research on micrometeorites) (IP user)
Can somebody take a look at that? --Tobias1984 (talk) 22:22, 12 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I found some of the publications from the comment:
• http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v309/n5970/abs/309693a0.html
• http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/pls/portallive/docs/1/6831910.PDF
• http://www2.mnhn.fr/hdt205/leme/doc/2008%20Genge%20et%20al.%20MAPS.pdf
--Tobias1984 (talk) 16:03, 13 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I have added text pertaining to these references in context with citations. User:HopsonRoad 20:16, 13 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Ecxellent, now can see what DYK review will bring up. --Tobias1984 (talk) 20:20, 13 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

DYK nomination[edit]

Lunar and martian soil[edit]

I was looking for some information on how much of the lunar and martian soil is made of micrometeorites. I also think that I once heard that even a vacuum cleaner bag can contain a lot of micrometeorites. Does anybody know something about either of those things? --Tobias1984 (talk) 17:21, 13 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Planetary scientists often call the "soil" on other planets, "regolith", since it is usually comparatively undisturbed after deposition and contains no organics. Even the WP article, Martian soil, calls it "regolith", but mentions "Martian dust", as well. Cheers, User:HopsonRoad 23:59, 13 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Do you know if micrometeorites were found in anything the Apollo program scooped up? --Tobias1984 (talk) 09:16, 14 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

According to Randy L. Korotev, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis, "Millions of micrometeorites strike the Moon every day." User:HopsonRoad 00:25, 15 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

The Micrometeorite#Extraterrestrial micrometeorites section state that, "It is estimated that particles up to 1200 µm would not be melted or vaporized compared to 50 µm on Earth." This contradicts the lede, which sets 50 µm as the minimum terrestrial size for micrometeorites. This needs to be resolved. User:HopsonRoad 00:38, 16 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I guess it's not a contradiction so much as a question of degree of transformation. See alterations to the text. User:HopsonRoad 01:36, 16 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

The atmosphere's property to hold back objects of a certain size is called atmospheric screening. I'm think I once saw a graph that plotted atmospheric density versus object sizes that could pass through. --Tobias1984 (talk) 08:10, 16 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Harmonization of units[edit]

I note that there is the use of both tons and tonnes in the article. I recommend that the units be harmonized to SI standards. The tons are probably sufficiently uncertain estimates that they could be converted to tonnes on a 1:1 basis. User:HopsonRoad 04:00, 14 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I think that the source are all quoting metric tonnes. It would be better to use t, Mg or kg to make it clear that the units are metric. --Tobias1984 (talk) 09:25, 14 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I have gone with tonnes per year (t/yr). User:HopsonRoad 00:38, 15 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Too technical?[edit]

I commented out "pelagic" from "...the top 10 cm of [pelagic] red clays on the Pacific Ocean floor". I felt that most encyclopedia readers wouldn't understand this word or its application. If it's important to the article, it should be elaborated upon. User:HopsonRoad 04:44, 15 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Definition micrometeorites[edit]

Currently the meteorite article and this one both use the definition that micrometeorites are smaller than 2 mm in diameter. I think the article should explain why this boundary was chosen. I could't find anything, but I somehow think that it is not just an arbitrary definition. --Tobias1984 (talk) 15:59, 21 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Just as there are no standards for the boundaries for mountain/hill or lake/pond, there may be none here. This is suggested at a Dartmouth site on MMs. User:HopsonRoad 21:31, 21 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

There is. 213.174.153.1 (talk) 13:45, 25 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Too Earth-centric[edit]

Aren't they called the same thing when they hit the surface of any other planet, satellite, asteroid, comet, etc ? The intro in particular seems to only consider those that hit the Earth. The same is true of the micrometeoroid article. StuRat (talk) 17:07, 22 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

While there are "extraterrestrial" micrometeorites, the vast preponderance of knowledge about particles that have undergone re-entry and impact on a given planet, satellite, etc. are those that have fallen on earth. The characteristics of the meteoroids and micrometeroids change differently upon entry into earth's atmosphere than they change, when impacting other bodies. Therefore, it is appropriate to distinguish between micrometeorites, found on earth, and extraterrestrial micrometeorites. User:HopsonRoad 21:35, 22 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I'll buy that, but the lede is written as if they only exist on Earth. That should be fixed, then we should have an "Earth micrometeorite" section and an "Extraterrestrial micrometeorite" section (we already have the latter). StuRat (talk) 05:34, 24 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I understand your sense of rigor, StuRat. Perhaps I can make an analogy. In Fairbanks, Alaska during the winter, you might hear a weather forecast of, "Today, we'll have a high of 40 and a low of 50." Before you look at that cross-eyed, bear in mind they leave off the (-), because that's assumed. We do the same thing for the (+) temperatures that we are accustomed to. So, with micrometeorites, it's assumed that they are terrestrial micrometeorites, unless otherwise specified. It would be a lot of extra work to have to say, "terrestrial", each time we used the term, which is almost always the sense in which it is used. Cheers, User:HopsonRoad 14:45, 24 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

See Rubin and Grossman et al. 2010 ^[1] 213.174.153.1 (talk) 13:51, 25 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

References

^ {cite journal |last1=Rubin |first1=A |last2=Grossman |first2=J |date=Mar 2010 |title=Meteorite and meteoroid: New comprehensive definitions |journal=Meteoritics & Planetary Science |volume=45 |issue=1 |pages=114-22 }

wikiHow[edit]

www.sky.com/search?q=% 2600:6C5D:13E:EF3F:44F7:4CB:3E6E:1698 (talk) 19:25, 19 June 2022 (UTC)[reply]

[1] {cite journal |last1=Rubin |first1=A |last2=Grossman |first2=J |date=Mar 2010 |title=Meteorite and meteoroid: New comprehensive definitions |journal=Meteoritics & Planetary Science |volume=45 |issue=1 |pages=114-22 }

[1]