Mystery illness strikes after meteorite hits Peruvian village

[jaerdaph]

Maybe it wasn't a meteor at all. Maybe somebody finally flushed the toilet on the international space station...

 

[kenobi65]

Hmmmm, it was green (they have a photo in the news story).

Kryptonite!

 

[Ferret]

It is pretty unusual to have a copper meteor, though. Most meteorites are either iron (90% iron, rest nickel), stone (sllicates), or stony iron (mixture of both).

Actually, Ferret is right, if it were copper in the meteor, it was probably copper-sulfate, and if it was pulverized in the impact, it would explain the smell and the sickness. They probably have mild copper poisoning.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002496.htm

Do I Win?

 

[Ilium]

Do I Win?

Yes. You don't have to breathe the fumes.

 

[Ferret]

Hurrah! I've been hearing people saying it wasn't a meteor though, but I don't know what else a falling rock from the sky would be...anyone feel like clearing that up?

 

[Blackrat]

Any debris we humans have been sending up there for the past 50 years?

 

[awayfarer]

Isn't that how one of the zombie flicks started?

This story combined with a news story about a man waking up in the middle of his autopsy had me briefly convinced I was in one yesterday.

 

[Kmart Kommando]

Copper Clockwork Horror scouts. Prepare for the invasion. Aluminum foil hats will only anger them...

On the down side, water will only make them turn green. :\

 

[Zogmo]

Hmmmm, it was green (they have a photo in the news story).

Sorry, but the pic of the green meteor that ran with the story was a just a file photo on hand.

But I'm sure any color would suffice for zombies to be made.

 

[LightPhoenix]

I agree with Ferret and trancejeremy (no points for me though). Even if the photo is stock and it wasn't green, the smell gives it away as some sort of sulfur compound. If it's not some sulfur-metal compound, my guess would be sulfuric acid formed from iron (or copper) sulfide as it passed through oxygen and water in the atomsphere.