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Science 23 December 1983:
Vol. 222. no. 4630, pp. 1327 - 1329
DOI: 10.1126/science.222.4630.1327
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Articles

Epsilon Carbide: A Low-Temperature Component of Interplanetary Dust Particles

ROY CHRISTOFFERSEN 1 and PETER R. BUSECK 1

1 Department of Geology and Department of Chemistry, Arizona State University, Tempe 85287

Transmission electron microscope study of a chondritic interplanetary dust particle has revealed the presence of epsilon iron-nickel carbide, a low- temperature carbide previously encountered only in metallurgical studies. In these studies isin-carbide was synthesized by carburization of iron or nickel grains in a stream of carbon monoxide or carbon monoxide plus hydrogen. Similar carburization of an iron-nickel metal in situ may have produced isin-carbide during particle heating on atmospheric entry or in solar orbit. Alternatively, the egr-carbide may be a by-product of Fischer-Tropsch reactions in the solar nebula. Such reactions have been proposed as the mechanism of hydrocarbon formation in the early solar system.

Submitted on July 12, 1983
Accepted on October 20, 1983


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
A Carbonate-Rich, Hydrated, Interplanetary Dust Particle: Possible Residue from Protostellar Clouds.
K. Tomeoka, K. TOMEOKA, and P. R. BUSECK (1986)
Science 231, 1544-1546
   Abstract »    PDF »
Discovery of Nucler Tracks in Interplanetary Dust.
J. P. Bradley, J. P. BRADLEY, D. E. BROWNLEE, and P. FRAUNDORF (1984)
Science 226, 1432-1434
   Abstract »    PDF »
Carbon Compounds in Interplanetary Dust: Evidence for Formation by Heterogeneous Catalysis.
J. P. Bradley, J. P. BRADLEY, D. E. BROWNLEE, and P. FRAUNDORF (1984)
Science 223, 56-58
   Abstract »    PDF »


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