Why do iron meteorites have such a unique grain structure?
In: Chemistry
What you’re describing is called Widmanstätten patterns in the iron core of meteors.
Large crystals are rare in metals on earth, because of the pressure and fast cooling, but the nature of how nickel/iron alloys in meteors cool over the course of hundreds of years in space cause the nickel and iron to separate into separate layers and form large interlocking crystal layers in the meteor. That’s where those patterns come from.
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