EduR528 Iron-Nickel Meteorite

3D Model

29×22×5mm

Early in the formation of a planet when it has reached a certain size, it begins to melt from the trapped heat. In this liquid phase, gravity pulls the denser materials, like iron and nickel, towards the core of the mass, while the less dense phases like silicates stay near the surface in a process called differentiation, which is what gives earth its layers including an iron- and nickel-rich core, which if the planetary body later breaks apart, will form these iron-nickel meteorites.

As the molten iron-nickel core flies through space for millions of years, it cools exceptionally slowly, allowing crystals to grow at their most stable arrangements. This produces a Widmanstätten microstructure you can see on the meteorite fragment, with large, long crystals intersecting in a criss-cross pattern where the atoms in different crystals line up most ideally. Such a pattern with large crystals is impossible to replicate artificially, giving a definite proof of a piece of iron being from a meteorite.