How to study the small particles of the solar system while staying on my street?

How to study the small particles of the solar system while staying on my street?

Student work supervised by Christophe Verna, SVT teacher

 

As part of the 2024 Geoscience Olympiad, whose theme was "Geology on my street", I supervised a group of students with the aim of collecting micrometeorites at the high school. They then posed the following problem: How to study the small particles of the solar system while staying on my street?

To begin, the students designed two micrometeorite collection systems: On the one hand, a system designed from a plastic bottle equipped with powerful magnets and then connected to a gutter collecting rain from a large glass roof of the high school; on the other hand, a system designed from a stretched tarpaulin, with a hole in the middle and connected to a sieving column. They then looked in the collected samples for structures with the shape and appearance of micrometeorites using binocular magnifying glasses. They identified a few dozen specimens. All that remained was to analyze them. They then contacted Mr. Leroux, director of the Chevreul Institute in Villeneuve d'Ascq, a CNRS research unit working in the field of chemistry and materials. They were thus able to observe in more detail the surface and chemical composition of these particles using a scanning electron microscope. After analysis, the extraterrestrial origin of some of this dust was indeed confirmed!

In the end, the students were satisfied to have completed this investigation. This collective work based on experimentation, the experimental approach, the creation of prototypes, allowed the students to develop their autonomy and to deepen their knowledge of the solar system.