# What is this metal thingy **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 28, 2009, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-metal-thingy/511839 "2009-09-28T12:46:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Clivas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@Clivas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clivas)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2009, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-metal-thingy/511839/1 "2009-09-28T12:46:07Z")
My kid loves rocks so my dad gave this to him one day. He said he just found it on the ground. There aren’t any bits of stone in it and it’s all the same metallic material. He thought maybe some left over from a fabrication shop or something but I don’t know. Any guesses? [http://s73.photobucket.com/albums/i227/cvastag/?action=view¤t=HPIM0145.jpg](http://s73.photobucket.com/albums/i227/cvastag/?action=view¤t=HPIM0145.jpg) [http://s73.photobucket.com/albums/i227/cvastag/?action=view¤t=HPIM0144.jpg](http://s73.photobucket.com/albums/i227/cvastag/?action=view¤t=HPIM0144.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2009, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-metal-thingy/511839/2 "2009-09-28T13:38:07Z")
Coal [slag](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slag) can be shiny like that sometimes. Interesting pieces of it are often found around railroad tracks. ---
**Author:** ![Jettboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85e7bf/32.png) [@Jettboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jettboy)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2009, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-metal-thingy/511839/3 "2009-09-28T14:11:53Z")
Do you live anywhere near Roswell, NM? ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2009, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-metal-thingy/511839/4 "2009-09-28T14:16:45Z")
It looks as if it might possibly be [galena](http://www.emporia.edu/earthsci/amber/go336/wilson/galena1.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2009, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-metal-thingy/511839/5 "2009-10-03T04:26:54Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > Coal [slag](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slag) can be shiny like that sometimes. > Interesting pieces of it are often found around railroad tracks. I’ve seen more coal slag than anyone else on this message board, and have collections of coal slag filling a room, and I think you could be correct. However, the photos are way too blurry for me to tell. ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2009, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-metal-thingy/511839/6 "2009-10-03T05:10:51Z")
Are you sure it is metal? For instance, does it conduct electricity? ---
**Author:** ![Translucent\_Daydream](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/translucent_daydream/32/16170_2.png) [@Translucent\_Daydream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Translucent_Daydream)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2009, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-metal-thingy/511839/7 "2009-10-03T14:44:31Z")
Is it flaky? Does it rub off easy? Could you mark it on something to leave a streak? Does it kinda stink like rotten eggs? ---
**Author:** ![breezman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@breezman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/breezman)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2009, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-metal-thingy/511839/8 "2009-10-03T18:38:47Z")
I have two “rocks” that look much like the one in your pictures. I found them both when I was a kid. A while back I had a really good student who was a geology major, and I showed it to her. She suspected that it might be galena (like someone mentioned above), but wasn’t sure-it seemed too light. So we went to the senior guy in the geology department, and he said that it is most likely a byproduct of some metallurgical process. Part of the giveaway was the presence of holes that go partway through the rock. Since I found it in Montgomery, AL, it’s possible that it’s a byproduct of the iron and steel industry in Birmingham, and somehow it wound up 90 miles south. Or it cold be a chunk of aluminum that somehow escaped the recycling plant. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2009, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-metal-thingy/511839/9 "2009-10-04T01:31:12Z")
Does a magnet stick to it? ---
**Author:** ![jakesteele](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ed8c4c/32.png) [@jakesteele](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jakesteele)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2009, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-metal-thingy/511839/10 "2009-10-04T01:58:31Z")
> [@Jettboy](#): > > Do you live anywhere near Roswell, NM? Or Hanford, Washington, or possibly 3-Mile Island? ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2009, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-metal-thingy/511839/11 "2009-10-06T00:29:28Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > It looks as if it might possibly be [galena](http://www.emporia.edu/earthsci/amber/go336/wilson/galena1.jpg). Or marcasite? [![](http://www.cmpb.net/images/sorties/2006_05_13beez/marcasite2%2016x12.JPG) ](http://www.cmpb.net/images/sorties/2006_05_13beez/marcasite2%2016x12.JPG)