Is a meteorite heavier than gold?
No. Gold is much heavier for its size than any meteorite. Even iron meteorites weigh only about 40 per cent as much as the same-sized lump of gold.
Meteorites, especially iron ones, feel very heavy for their size. But gold is even heavier!
Scientists compare how heavy things are for their size using a measurement called density. Here are some densities, in grams per cubic centimetre:
- Water: 1 - Ordinary rock, such as granite: about 2.7 - Stony meteorites: about 3 to 3.7 - Iron meteorites: about 7.8 - Gold: about 19.3
So a lump of gold would weigh about two and a half times as much as an iron meteorite of the same size, and about six times as much as a stony meteorite. A cube of gold the size of a sugar cube would weigh about 19 grams, while a cube of iron meteorite that size would weigh about 8 grams.
Iron meteorites feel surprisingly heavy because we compare them with ordinary stones, which are much lighter. If you hold a stony rock in one hand and an iron meteorite of the same size in the other, the meteorite feels almost three times heavier.
The heaviest natural material on Earth is the metal osmium, at about 22.6. Iron meteorites contain tiny traces of osmium, but not enough to make them heavier than gold.