Hooked on Science: Check your house for dust from a meteorite

Using a few materials from around the house you can check to see if space dust has made it into your backyard.

Materials

* Jar

* Magnet

* White piece of paper

Instructions

STEP 1: Using the jar, have an adult collect some of the fine dry particles from the gutter.

STEP 2: Pour some of the particles onto the white piece of paper.

STEP 3: Place the magnet under the white piece of paper and then move the magnet around in circles.

STEP 4: Remove all the nonmagnetic particles by tilting and tapping the paper.

Explanation

The fine particles that attract to the magnet are pieces of space dust. Using a high-powered microscope you can get an up-close peek at your micrometeorites. The micrometeorites should be rounded due to their trip from space to Earth.

Jason Lindsey is a Science Outreach Educator with Hooked on Science. Check out his website "Hooked On Science" at hookedonscience.org for webcasts and experiments that might get you hooked on science. Send him your science questions at jlindsey@hookedonscience.org. More science experiments can be found at www.semissourian.com.