Fractionation of iron in the solar system [7]

Abstract

Harris and Tozer1 have recently suggested that magnetostatic attraction between cosmic iron particles is responsible for the observed variation in iron abundance between the inner and outer planets of the solar system. I should like to point out that a crucial assumption in this model is "the uniform single-domain nature" of iron particles in the size range 10-4-10-3 cm. The calculations which follow show that iron particles of only a limited size range can take part in magnetostatic accretion. © 1967 Nature Publishing Group.