Thread: Meteorite again
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Old 22nd July 2019, 03:35 PM   #10
Lee
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Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Upstate New York, USA
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Default Some back of envelope calculations

So, this budiak is obviously not a keris, but perhaps it may, through some back of envelope conclusions provide some insight. X-Ray fluorescence analysis (so, surface in the area of pattern averaged over an area of about a square centimeter) disclosed about half of one percent Nickel without other elements commonly used to enhance patterns. The Nickel will be in the lighter areas of the twist-core pattern, but one should not assume that meteoric alloy would have been used there in pure form. Making a perilous extrapolation, if this sample is representative of the whole, then there would be about 2 grams of Nickel in 450 grams of budiak. While there is no evidence that the Nickel did come from meteorite (see Kai's reply in the original thread), if the material did come from meteorite we can then calculate how much meteoric material would be there. The metallic phases of meteorites will contain from about 4 to 30 percent Nickel with a large majority of the rest being Iron, so if this is extraterrestrial Nickel, then it would as a finished product contain from about ten to fifty grams of meteoric alloy. If it were from an African Gibeon meteorite, which it would not be but using this as a stand-in for a nearly purely metallic type, the weight of meteoric content would be about 25 grams.
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