Bones, DL, Carrillo Sánchez, JD, Connell, SDA orcid.org/0000-0003-2500-5724 et al. (3 more authors) (2022) Ablation Rates of Organic Compounds in Cosmic Dust and Resulting Changes in Mechanical Properties During Atmospheric Entry. Earth and Space Science, 9 (4). e2021EA001884. ISSN 2333-5084
Abstract
A new experimental system is described for studying the pyrolysis of the refractory organic constituents in cosmic dust during atmospheric entry. The pyrolysis kinetics of meteoritic fragments (CM2 and CV3 carbonaceous chondrites, radius = 36–100 μm) were measured by mass spectrometric detection of CO2 and SO2 at temperatures between 625 and 1300 K, with most carbon being lost between 700 and 800 K. The complex time-resolved kinetic behavior is consistent with two organic components—one significantly more refractory than the other, which probably correspond to the insoluble and soluble organic fractions, respectively. The measured temperature-dependent pyrolysis rates were then incorporated into the Leeds Chemical Ablation Model, which demonstrates that organic pyrolysis should be detectable using a high performance/large aperture radar. Atomic force microscopy was used to show that although the residual meteoritic particles became more brittle after organic pyrolysis, they also became slightly harder, withstanding stresses that are at least three orders of magnitude higher than would be encountered during atmospheric entry. This suggests that most cosmic dust particles (radius <100 μm) will not fragment during entry into the atmosphere as a result of organic pyrolysis, although a subset of slow-moving, low density particles mostly from Jupiter-family comets could fragment.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2022 The Authors. Earth and Space Science published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Geophysical Union. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Keywords: | cosmic dust, atmospheric entry, organic pyrolysis, meteor radar, meteor fragmentation |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Chemistry (Leeds) > Inorganic Chemistry (Leeds) The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Chemistry (Leeds) > Physical Chemistry (Leeds) The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Physics and Astronomy (Leeds) > Molecular & Nanoscale Physics The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Earth and Environment (Leeds) > Inst for Climate & Atmos Science (ICAS) (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 22 Mar 2022 13:20 |
Last Modified: | 06 Jun 2022 14:53 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Wiley |
Identification Number: | 10.1029/2021EA001884 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:185015 |