Methods
For iron micrometeorites follow these instructions.
Use a small but strong magnet and cover it with a cellophane bag. Look (…… for example) at the floor drain under the gutter downspout. A copper or plastic gutter is recommended. Remove the floor drain cover. Sweep the covered magnet slowly through the water. Remove the magnet from its cover, and shake the cover on a white paper. Evaporate the water. Once evaporated, examine it with the microscope. Most of the particles you see will not be micrometeorites, but debris of terrestrial origin. If you are fortunate, you can see some metallic rounded object, which is likely to be a micrometeorite.
But working with a magnet your collection is limited to the small fraction of micrometeorites that have magnetic qualities. Since a good percentage of the micrometeorites are non iron, they would be missed by the magnetic method. So I decided to proceed with a different method: samples are collected by hand, then washed, cleaned and once evaporated they are examined step by step with a stereo microscope.
Many non iron specimen I’ve found with this new method, without a magnet, looking at the sand in sites like this: the sides of a wide terrace in Rosignano Marittimo.
Here below the method.
Use a small but strong magnet and cover it with a cellophane bag. Look (…… for example) at the floor drain under the gutter downspout. A copper or plastic gutter is recommended. Remove the floor drain cover. Sweep the covered magnet slowly through the water. Remove the magnet from its cover, and shake the cover on a white paper. Evaporate the water. Once evaporated, examine it with the microscope. Most of the particles you see will not be micrometeorites, but debris of terrestrial origin. If you are fortunate, you can see some metallic rounded object, which is likely to be a micrometeorite.
But working with a magnet your collection is limited to the small fraction of micrometeorites that have magnetic qualities. Since a good percentage of the micrometeorites are non iron, they would be missed by the magnetic method. So I decided to proceed with a different method: samples are collected by hand, then washed, cleaned and once evaporated they are examined step by step with a stereo microscope.
Many non iron specimen I’ve found with this new method, without a magnet, looking at the sand in sites like this: the sides of a wide terrace in Rosignano Marittimo.
Here below the method.