earth science

Murray meteorite

Murray meteorite is a earth science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Murray meteorite rather than just read about it. In short: The Murray meteorite is a CM2-type carbonaceous chondrite that exploded more than 45 km above western Kentucky in the early morning of 20 September 1950. History On 20 September 1950 at approximately 1:35 a.m. local time, near Jasper County, Illinois, a red-orange fireball was seen travelling south.

Key takeaways

Murray meteorite belongs to earth science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Murray meteorite to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Murray meteorite from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Murray meteorite is a CM2-type carbonaceous chondrite that exploded more than 45 km above western Kentucky in the early morning of 20 September 1950.

History On 20 September 1950 at approximately 1:35 a.m. local time, near Jasper County, Illinois, a red-orange fireball was seen travelling south. About five seconds later, the fireball exploded with a 'blinding flash' at a height of over 45 km above western Kentucky. The sound of the explosion was heard over a thousand-square-mile area. A shower of fragments fell to Earth in Calloway County, Kentucky near Wildcat Creak, Kentucky Lake 9 miles east of Murray. A search was made on 22 October 1950 by a party from Vanderbilt University but only a few small pieces were found, other pieces were found by local farmers.

Classification and composition The Murray meteorite is an CM2 carbonaceous chondrite with 58.8 matrix and 0.96% insoluble organic matter. Silicon carbide grains found in the Murray meteorite had anomalous isotope ratios of silicon, carbon and nitrogen. This suggests that the grains formed before our Solar System existed, possibly in the atmospheres of red giant stars.

Organic matter 17 amino acids were found in the Murray meteorite in 1971. Only six of these amino acids were proteinogenic amino acids. By 2001, the list of organic materials identified in the meteorite was extended to include polyols. In 2020 NASA announced that hexamethylenetetramine had been found in the Murchison, Murray and Tagish Lake meteorites. Purine and pyrimidine nucleobases have been detected in parts-per-billion in a 2022 study of the Murchison, Murray and Tagish Lake meteorites. nicotinic acid (626ppb), isonicotinic acid (307ppb), 1-Methyl-1H-imidazole-5-carboxylic acid (a thymine isomer, 100ppb) and 4-Imidazole carboxylic acid (a uracil isomer, 99ppb) were the most abundant N-heterocycles found in the Murray sample.

External links Murray meteorite at the Astrophysics Data System

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Murray meteorite

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Murray meteorite claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In earth science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Murray meteorite before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Murray meteorite ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Murray meteorite

In research: Murray meteorite appears in earth science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Murray meteorite in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Murray meteorite is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Chondrite meteorites, Meteorite falls, Meteorite minerals, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Murray meteorite outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Murray meteorite in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Murray meteorite means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Murray meteorite out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Murray meteorite in simple terms?

The Murray meteorite is a CM2-type carbonaceous chondrite that exploded more than 45 km above western Kentucky in the early morning of 20 September 1950. History On 20 September 1950 at approximately 1:35 a.m. local time, near Jasper County, Illinois, a red-orange fireball was seen travelling south.

Why does Murray meteorite matter?

Because it connects several earth science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Murray meteorite?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Murray meteorite.