• Question: how do you identify different space rocks ?

    Asked by anon-245854 to Sam, Samantha, Nicol, Lori-Ann, Liam, David on 16 Mar 2020.
    • Photo: Samantha Faircloth

      Samantha Faircloth answered on 16 Mar 2020:

      Hello chunkynoodles123! We identify space rocks (mostly meteorites that land on Earth) by their appearance, how heavy they are (some are pure iron and are really heavy) and then we measure the chemical elements in the rocks to properly confirm what they are. I measure elements in Moon rocks that were brought back from the Moon by NASA astronauts! : -)

    • Photo: David Sobral

      David Sobral answered on 16 Mar 2020:

      I don’t, but some of my friends do – they use cool machines in their labs

    • Photo: Lori-Ann Foley

      Lori-Ann Foley answered on 16 Mar 2020:

      When rocks come to earth as meteorites, you can tell where they have come from by what they are made up of. The other planets have different amounts of the elements in their ground, and the air is also made up of different amounts of gases. So when a meteorite is found, it can be tested to see what contains and that can often be matched up with what we know about the other planets and the asteroids and moon. I have a tiny piece of an asteroid that we know came from Mars because of what it is made of. I love to look at it and think where it came from!

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