From space straight to the roof of the University of Wrocław!
Geologists are able to find an interesting object of study not only in remote and hard-to-reach corners of the Earth, but also in their own backyard, in fact… on the roof of their own institute. This was the case for members of the Student Scientific Association of Geologists, working under the direction of dr inż. Grzegorz Ziemniak, who discovered micrometeorites on the roof of the building of the Institute of Geology at the University of Wrocław.
How did they know it was not just ordinary dirt, but space dust? Can any of us find micrometeorites and where to look for them? What are the Student Association’s next research plans? You will find the answers in the video! Enjoy!
Micrometeorites are small particles of space – space dust – which enter the Earth’s atmosphere at high speed (an average of 7 kilometers per second) and, partially melting in the process, fall to the Earth’s surface.
Scientists have been studying micrometeorites for a long time, but they used to look for them only in uninhabited, pollution-free areas. Only since about the second decade of the 21st century have they begun to be found in cities. The first finder of urban meteorites was Norwegian scientist Jon Larsen.
First micrometeorite finders in Poland
“The idea of searching for micrometeorites in Poland came up during an ordinary student conversation, during a break between classes” – Wojciech Durak recalled, a geological engineering student. – “This idea took root in us and we started to wonder where we could find them”.
Members of the Club came up with the idea to search the roof of the university, the place where there is the least amount of contamination, which is an obstacle in the search for micrometeorites:
“We took a vacuum cleaner, came on the roof, vacuumed the entire roof of the university and our department, thus obtaining samples for research” – Zuzanna Pilska recounted, a geology student. Vacuuming the roof was the first of many steps that led to a happy ending. Wojciech Durak explained the entire process of obtaining micrometeorites:
“We clean all the collected material, pour water, the organic material flows out and what is left is what we are most interested in, that is, the rocks. Later we sieve everything, that is, we separate it into different fractions, into different thicknesses. We apply a neodymium magnet, to which the micrometeorites attach. This is because space material is mostly particles that contain iron. We then examine the material under a microscope”.
The first micrometeorite was found by dr inż. Grzegorz Ziemniak – a lecturer who got the students interested in the subject – and the next micrometeorites were found by the students themselves. In the end, they managed to find 10 pieces of micrometeorites in about 30 kilograms of material. Their size ranged from 0.1 to 0.35 mm (100 to 350 microns). The weight of a single micrometeorite ranged from 2 to 20 µg (micrograms).
“It is safe to say that we are the first finders of micrometeorites in Poland” – Wojciech Durak stated proudly. There is a lot to be proud of, because finding micrometeorites in Wrocław, compared to other places in Poland, due to the city’s pollution, is extremely difficult.
Of course, we absolutely do not encourage walking on roofs. A safer and quite effective way, as Zuzanna Pilska suggests, is to place a container or bucket under the gutter, into which, along with the rain, all the material falls straight from the space.
How to distinguish micrometeorites from ordinary earth dust
Micrometeorites are characterized by a very interesting appearance and structure. They are shaped like spheres or balls, and when seen under a microscope they shimmer with beautiful colors. Their distinctive appearance is due to the physical processes they undergo as they fall to Earth, such as rotation while flying through the atmosphere. The fact that micrometeorites are composed mainly of iron and nickel is the evidence that they are space dust.
There are four types of micrometeorites: glass ones with fully smooth surfaces, formed at very high temperatures reaching over 2,000 degrees; cryptocrystalline ones formed at slightly lower temperatures, barred olivines and porphyritic olivines.
Titan from space stations back on Earth?
As Michał Maciak, a geological engineering student, explains “In micrometeorites fluids, or in other wordsgases, are trapped, which may contain primordial gases from the places these micrometeorites came from, such as the Moon or Mars. They could also be gases that got there during the micrometeorites’ entry into the atmosphere.
In the collected material the geologists also found spherules that contain titanium. So far, its origin has not been clearly established. It is suspected that these are remnants of human activity in space – elements of satellites or space stations.
Research and educational plans of the Association of Geologists
“Our future plans are to go to the Giant Mountains (Karkonosze) where pollution is lower and thus the number of micrometeorites per kilogram of the sample will be higher” – dr inż. Grzegorz Ziemniak revealed.
“One of the next parts of our project will be an attempt to study the effects of two strains of bacteria on micrometeorites in terms of bioleaching, i.e. the breakdown of phase substances of minerals into simpler compounds such as iron, nickel and other metals” – Michał Maciak added. If it was confirmed that bacteria have the ability to bioleach micrometeorites, this could facilitate space exploration in the distant future, so there would be no need to transport raw materials from Earth – they would be produced locally, for example, from lunar regolith, which is 2% composed of micrometeorites.
The Club of Geologists encourages people to follow its Instagram, where educational materials for young geology and space dust fans will soon appear. The geologists will also soon launch an educational program for elementary and high school students with a passion for micrometeorites.
For their project titled „Exploration, separation and analysis of the chemical and phase composition of urban micrometeorites,” the University of Worcław’s Student Scientific of Geologists were nominated in the national StRuNa competition.
Film editor: Paweł Piotrowski
Compiled by: Ewelina Kośmider
Translated by Martyna Mielczarek (student of English Studies at the University of Wrocław) as part of the translation practice.
