Meteorites have a brown, black or grey outer fusion crust of magnetite and hematite, but inside they look quite different. The interiors of irons show bright silvery metal, and stones show speckled cream, brown or grey silicate grains with scattered metal specks and veins.
Stony-irons show a silvery metal meshwork enclosing glassy green olivine (Pallasites) or brown pyroxene (Mesosiderites).
Stony meteorites usually have 'boxy' shapes with small, rounded hollows like thumb prints on their outer surfaces and rounded corners and edges.
Irons and stony-irons can have regular, smoothed shapes, but can also be twisted 'shrapnel' shapes if they have been broken up and deformed.
Irons are very heavy - a 10 cm cube of an iron would weigh about 7.5 kg to 7.8 kg, and a similar cube of a stony-iron would weigh between 4 kg - 6 kg. Stones (chondrites) are brittle and less heavy - a 10 cm cube would weigh between 3 kg and 4 kg, while carbonaceous chondrites (black and crumbly, often smelling like bitumen or camphor), would weigh between 2.2 kg and 3.5 kg. Achondrite stones are brittle, may have a shiny black fusion crust, and have a pale grey or cream interior with little or no metal. A 10 cm cube of an achondrite would weigh about 3.0 kg - 3.5 kg. Irons and stony-irons are strongly attracted to a magnet, while chondrite stones are attracted weakly and achondrites are almost non-magnetic.
Copyright © Australian Museum, 2004