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To: AdmSmith
If you have a chunk of metal or a rock that contains metal and the metal contains >4% nickel (Ni), then it is probably a meteorite. If the metal contains >0.02% chromium (Cr) or manganese (Mn), then it is not a meteorite, however.

If the metal contains <4% nickel, then the metal chunk or rock is not a meteorite.

If you have a rock that contains between 1.0 and 1.8% nickel (whole-rock analysis), whether or not it appears to contain metal, then the rock might be a meteorite.

If you have a rock that does NOT contain metal and has a low concentration of nickel (<1% = <10000 ppm), it could still be a rare type of meteorite, an achondrite. (About 5% of stony meteorites are achondrites. The probability is exceedingly small, however, because nearly all (guesstimate: >99.999%) Earth rocks have the same properties - no iron-nickel metal and low concentrations of nickel (<0.3%)

http://meteorites.wustl.edu/id/metal4.htm
24 posted on 12/14/2017 1:40:39 AM PST by AdmSmith (GCTGATATGTCTATGATTACTCAT)
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To: AdmSmith

Some good (and not so good) comments here https://science.slashdot.org/story/17/12/08/0136216/almost-all-bronze-age-artifacts-were-made-from-meteorite-iron


26 posted on 12/14/2017 1:47:02 AM PST by AdmSmith (GCTGATATGTCTATGATTACTCAT)
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