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other side was a shiny silver. I contacted the professor who ty professor did not have the technical equipment to analyse. agreed to analyse the new pieces, so Bell shipped two of the "Isotope" refers to the number of protons and neutrons in the pieces to him, keeping the others in a safe-deposit box. nucleus of each atom. On Earth, magnesium (Mg) metal is made The first step by the professor was to photograph the metal up of about 80% “Mg and about 10% each of *Mg (one additional pieces as they arrived at his lab. To give colour and size perspec- neutron compared to “Mg) and *Mg (two additional neutrons tive, he put the dark side of one piece up on the left and the silver | compared to *Mg). If the metal were truly extraterrestrial in ori- side of the other piece up on the right, both near a quarter coin, gin, one would wonder if anomalies might be detected at the mag- about an inch in diameter, for size comparison (see Plate 2). nesium isotope level that would prove the metal was highly On 8 June 1996 the university professor released his prelimi- strange. nary analyses of the metal pieces. He had examined a cut-and- For example, in 1957 a metal fragment allegedly from a UFO polished cross-section with a scanning electron microscope to that exploded off Ubatuba near Sao Paulo, Brazil, was analysed look at structure, and EDS to determine element composition. by the Brazilian government in laboratory tests. The professor wrote: On 14 September 1957, eye- These were very different from the witnesses had seen a "flying aluminum specimens received earlier. disc" approach them at fantastic The material was in two main pieces, The metal tested to be nearly speed and pull up to avoid strik- referred to as "skins". ing the water; then it exploded Sample One was approximately six 100% pure magnesium, entirely into thousands of fiery frag- centimeters by three centimeters and ments which fell into the sea. about three to four millimeters in without the metallic trace A number of pieces fell near thickness. Sample Two was about five elements characteristic of Earth- the beach and some were recov - centimeters by two and a half centime - . ered. A witness sent three ters and again three to four millime - manufactu red magnesium. small fragments in a letter to an ters thickness. Sample One weighed investigator who eventually got 6.23 grams. Sample Two weighed 6.9 them to the Mineral Production grams. The shape of each sample was Laboratory, a division of the quite irregular, and the thickness in National Department of Mineral each case varied in different areas. It is emphasized that Production in Brazil's Ministry of Agriculture. these measurements are meant to provide only some notion of. The metal tested to be nearly 100% pure magnesium, entirely the general size of the specimens. without the metallic trace elements characteristic of Earth-manu- Each sample had a ‘silvery’, shiny side with a rough (gran - factured magnesium. Another strange result was that the metal ular) appearance. The other side was blackish-gray. was 6.7% heavier than ordinary pure magnesium. Looking at the samples edge-on, numerous layers can be Former NASA scientist Paul Hill, who later summarised the seen. The samples were hard but brittle, and a few small results of the lab analyses done on the Brazilian fragments, sus- pieces could be broken off using a small hand vice and manu - pected that if there were more of the isotope *Mg, it could explain al pressure. ...Energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) the density difference. In fact, his computations would explain revealed that the shiny side contained more than 95% mag - the density anomaly if the metal was the pure isotope “Mg. nesium (Mg) and a small amount (2-3%) of zinc (Zn). The So I arranged to have a piece of the "skin" from the alleged dark side contained a significant amount of bismuth (Bi). ...the material appears to represent layers of a substance consisting mainly of magnesium and a small amount of zine separated by thin layers contain - ing a high bismuth content. On 23 July 1996 the professor released another more refined test report after apply- ing Wavelength Dispersive Spectroscopy (WDS) to analyse the element composition of the metal skin. In his conclusion he wrote: The WDS confirms more quantita - tively the previous EDS measurements. The material corresponds to layers of Bi and Mg/Zn with the weight percent of the Zn varying slightly from about 2.4% to 2.9% between Bi layers. In addition, no zirconium (Zr) could be detected with the Mg/Zn area. (That search was because zirconium (Zr) is frequently found in Mg/Zn alloys.) There were questions about the isotope ratios in the magnesium which the universi- Plate 2: Photograph of two metal pieces from second shipment by anonymous South Carolina source. Each piece had a dark side and a shiny silver side. On the left, the dark side is up; on the right, the silver side is up. An inch-diameter quarter coin was placed next to the pieces for size comparison. Photograph by university professor ©1996. ty professor did not have the technical equipment to analyse. "Isotope" refers to the number of protons and neutrons in the nucleus of each atom. On Earth, magnesium (Mg) metal is made up of about 80% “Mg and about 10% each of *Mg (one additional neutron compared to “Mg) and *Mg (two additional neutrons compared to *Mg). If the metal were truly extraterrestrial in ori- gin, one would wonder if anomalies might be detected at the mag- nesium isotope level that would prove the metal was highly NEXUS 75 manufactured magnesium. AUGUST - SEPTEMBER 1997