The Weapons Made of Iron That Fell From Space

[@TomQuoVadis]

This was a plot point in one of the Redwall books. A chunk of meteoric iron falls from the sky and is used to fashion a sword that never seems to rust. It's the closest thing to a magical artifact the series has.

[@yesno9592]

@TomQuoVadis stainless steel? 🙂

[@ATruckCampbell]

@@yesno9592 SS can rust.

[@driskoll127]

​@@yesno9592Stainless steel contains nickel, and since in the video he says that meteoric iron contains high nickel content, that's more or less what it is.

[@jameseden9380]

Redwall is dope

[@ATruckCampbell]

@@driskoll127 Stainless steel rusts.

[@RelativelyBest]

Meteorite iron swords are cool, I guess, but if you want a _really_ special sword you should use _telluric_ iron. It's basically the direct opposite of meteoric iron: Telluric iron is Earth's original native metallic iron (as opposed to iron ore) and most of it was lost in the Great Oxidization Event two billion years ago, so it is extremely rare. The only place you can find decent amounts of the stuff is this one place in Greenland.

[@Ackira]

The idea of ancient civilizations finding a rock that fell from space, knowing what to do with it, and using it to make a tool is absolutely amazing to me

[@happylittlemountains3724]

Youre human too, you have the same spirit of ingenuity they had as well, go create something friend :)

[@BreadGood_21]

@@happylittlemountains3724 I can’t tell if that’s hostile or genuine lmao

[@DrOtto-sx7cp]

Tibetans are (where) amazing a culture.

[@Dizzy_420]

@@BreadGood_21 Seems like a genuine good hearth comment imo.

[@Dizzy_420]

@@DrOtto-sx7cp Sad to see them purged by China...

[@allocater2]

I learned it like this: Asteroid = aster oid = Star-like phenomenon (up in the sky) Meteoroid = meteor oid = Weather-like phenomenon (hits the atmosphere) Meteorite = meteor ite = Weather phenomenon that touched the earth (crashed down) Comet = komi = phenomenon that looks like hair (up in the sky)

[@KingOpenReview]

I'm feeling the aster now.

[@HighlanderNorth1]

The increase in meteorites hitting Earth is caused by gl0bal w@rming! 🙃

[@tsbrownie]

Fun fact: the mass of all asteroids in the asteroid belt is estimated to add up to roughly the mass of Earth's Moon.

[@Polaris_Videos]

Oh nice, TIL

[@chengong388]

that sounds kind of low to me. I'd have guessed it to have the mass of Earth or mars

[@dianapennepacker6854]

​@@chengong388So I googled it as I thought the same. Says here it is just 3% of the moons total mass. The hell? Sci Fi writers straight made the damn thing up! I shouldn't have googled.

[@dianapennepacker6854]

Google says 3% mate. TIL asteroid belt is a freaken lie. They act like there is planets worth of material there at least.

[@erikreber3695]

​@dianapennepacker6854 Writers and directors make everything up. Sometimes they make Lawyers and politicians seem truthful in comparison. Hahaha lol.

[@babylonsburning1]

In the Arthurian legend of the Sword in the Stone. The tale is that the young boy Arthur is the only person that can pulled a sword out of a stone put there by Merlin, the Wizard. I have long believed that the story was wrong and that the real version was that the Sword, Excaliber, was in the stone, A meteorite. Arthur draw the the Sword from the Stone. He smelted the Meteorite and fashion the sword from the iron, with the help of Merlin.

[@painfultruth1846]

Can someone please hire you to make the script for the next movie adaptation of this tale? I really like this theory

[@RelativelyBest]

My favorite part of the story is that the sword was actually embedded in an anvil that stood _on_ a stone, but it's still consistently referred to as "the sword in the stone." That implies the blade went _all the way through_ the anvil and into the stone. I dunno, something about that is just funny and awesome to me. A few more fun facts: -I'm pretty sure Merlin didn't put it there, he just predicted that the true king would be the one to pull it free. The sword, anvil and stone apparently just appeared one day, and I think we're supposed to assume God did it. (Which could still work for your idea, since I guess a huge chunk of iron falling out of the sky might be viewed as a sign from God that you should make a sweet sword.) -Depending on the writer, the Sword in the Stone is sometimes the same as Excalibur, or Arthur broke his first sword in a duel and got Excalibur as a replacement from the Lady of the Lake. The former is the more common version these days, probably because it streamlines the story and is less confusing. -On that note, Arthur actually owned several special swords. One of them, Clarent, was stolen by Mordred, and Arthur handed a couple others out to his knights when they went on quests. In one story he even gives Excalibur away to Gawain because he'd gotten a hold of the sword of Hercules, which was apparently way better. -There was also a second sword in a stone that, IIRC, Galahad ended up pulling out. (Because _of course_ Galahad needed his own Sword in the Stone.)

[@babylonsburning1]

@@RelativelyBest The anvil shows how the blade was forged and hammered into shape.

[@hiramesensei3112]

well that story was invented in middle ages france over 500 years after any real king arthur who would have lived in wales, so your cringe fanfic is as close to truth as any i guess

[@GoonyMclinux]

So the made up fable from a book is wrong?

[@samuelsuggs1368]

A small number of meteorite m1911 handguns where made by a company called Cabot Guns.

[@csj9619]

you don't say. interesting

[@Flint-Dibble-the-Don]

​@@csj9619he did. He did say.

[@poindextertunes]

only 5 million dollars? can you spot me?

[@speemus6223]

They made a Space gun

[@meteorock]

There are things alloys have to learn from meteorites.

[@etherospike3936]

What everyone forgets, is that meteorites alone can't contain a main component, carbon, so best steel is made not only with iron but with quality coal . That is missing from meteorites.

[@Rampageotron]

There's a chinese martial arts movie called "Seven Swords" that features a bunch of warriors armed with swords forged from meteorites. Each sword has special properties that are almost magical. It's worth a watch.

[@milkywaylibrary]

thank you for listing the sources. too many of these "science" channels never bother to list their references. it's unbelievably annoying when you try to see where they drew their conclusions from.

[@willywonka7812]

Um, aliens built everything that white people didn't. Right-wing media lets me know this repeatedly

[@lawrencehickman1066]

Hey man, just wanted to say that this is an amazing video and I think it's really underappreciated. The visuals were really solid, props to your editor.

[@joyphobic]

It is way more mindblowing to me that they come up with iron smelting techniques centuries before their respective Iron Age. That's like people in the 16th century messing about with nuclear fission, absolutely wild!

[@Chris.Davies]

Until it hits the ground, it is a meteor. Only once it lands does it become a "meteorite". "ite" is the common ending for mineral names, such as diorite, hematite, bauxite, etc.

[@ravinraven6913]

its nice to see some one else here with a modicum of intelligence. It's like they just use words without even knowing what they mean He clearly doesn' know how stars die and think Iron is only formed in exploding stars...most stars die because they reach Iron and can't fuse anymore but they don't explode in a super nova...but it causes the top layers to balloon into a Gas Giant till that burns away and leaves nothing but an iron core...This guy definitely isn't very smart but he knows smart people like to watch smart shows...

[@zoutewand]

​@@ravinraven6913 you're annoying

[@comtedestgermain5627]

That was an awesome video, great presentsfion through both voice/music and visuals!

[@jfu5222]

Thank you from a first time viewer and new subscriber! Brilliant work, I look forward to catching up on your playlist!

[@GrimnessDarkness]

Watched solely to see if Terry Pratchett was mentioned. Happy to see he was. GNU.

[@jonharvey6277]

Came to the comments to see this comment so now I know it's definitely worth watching all the way through Gnu stp

[@r.awilliams9815]

De Chelonian Mobile!

[@ravinraven6913]

you must watch a lot of stuff you're not interested in hoping one thing gets mentioned.

[@chichimamakokomashey1563]

I used to wear one meteorite trinket around my neck similar to the one that you showed at the beginning, but unfortunately during my first year in France I lost it in a town called Nogent sur Oise near Creil where I stayed one year. I still feel I lost a part of me and also not to mention my mother scolding me until today whenever we brought it up. This is the third of such family heirloom I lost 😅 throughout my childhood until I turned adult. As a Tibetan the meteorite was given to me with a turquoise which is my LaaYu meaning spirit or souls turquoise or stone which both having significant importance. We did a tantric ritual along with it before tying the string.

[@ZombiePumps]

I wander how many iron artifacts were melted down to make weapons of the time once smelting was common.

[@unclestoma4699]

good question people have been recycling for a long time

[@donaldbohn3183]

The fabled original "Bowie Knife" was said to have been forged from a meteor.

[@styxriverr5237]

The reason Metoric Iron was so special was that it's easier to work with then processing Iron Ore into anything useable, allowing a Bronze Age civilization to make basically a magic weapon for all intents and purposes. Now a days it's just another piece of iron, but back in the days of Bronze having an Iron sword gave you a distinct advantage.

[@theomelchior2739]

Quick correction, the second Hopewell Meteorite fell in Anoka Minnesota, not Mississippi Apart from that, This is an awesome video and taught me a lot of stuff I did not know (wanted to add this section after reading some of the other comments)

[@BlazRa]

Something is very special about it being forged by stars and cooled by space, being a medal with a crystal structure thats amazing.

[@ravinraven6913]

maybe special in your sense...not really special in any other definition of the word. There's more of than then there are habitable planets...mass and count wise...

[@BlazRa]

@@ravinraven6913 enjoy never enjoying anything and if you're taking shots at me I have a genius IQ nice try , small fry.

[@TheAsj97]

Sorry to break it to you, but all matter in the universe was forged by stars, the only exceptions being the extremely light atoms like Hydrogen that were made by the Big Bang instead.

[@afmo500]

@ 3:36 I'd definitely put off conquering that kingdom and subjugating its people for a year or two after getting such a nice gift

[@PalmettoNDN]

What a lovely and informative film. Thank you so very much.

[@notjordanza]

What an aesthetic gem of a video, thank you.

[@Sophieeb4321]

Great to see another vid from Polaris Videos! 🎉

[@Polaris_Videos]

you got in there quick, thank you!!

[@Sophieeb4321]

@@Polaris_Videosgot my notifications on ofc!

[@Chiberia]

my wedding ring is made from a very particular type of meteorite that creates really stark grains in the ring. it's like natural Damascus steel, I love it, but have to take extra special care of it and be careful around strong magnets.

[@ravinraven6913]

that means its just iron....how is a metorite ring cheaper than gold rings where the gold comes from the earth?

[@Born_Stellar]

@@ravinraven6913 meteorites aren't actually all that rare. they have been hitting earth for billions of years.

[@Chiberia]

@@ravinraven6913 gold and iron both came from supernovae if you want to be pedantic. amazingly enough, it's the symbolism of the rarity of people using this as a ring rather than the value of the scrap metal that means something to me in my wedding ring.

[@Eric-sd2tk]

The rock that muslims pray to its a meteorite too

[@DruggiePlays]

The ancient age people: a blessing from the gods "Explorers": don't mind if i stolen

[@cinemaipswich4636]

Now we have to split up it up to the 1st and 2nd "Iron Age". The Ancient Egyptians made iron tools, long before iron ore smelting. It is a 1,000 year gap between those events. In Australia we find these meteorites in our deserts because they are black, and out of place.

[@admdubya2107]

It’s frickin neat to learn all those words for iron reference it coming from the sky, pre-discovery of iron smelting.

[@DobleWhiteAndStanley]

Even redwall, the iconic sword of martin the warrior was meteoric.

[@ravinraven6913]

but redwall was fake...a fiction, so he could have had adimantium for all it matters. Its cool when its real, its dumb af when its fiction and you guys still pipe up. Might as well just have created your own metal since its your own story. But you gotta have a bad case of writers block to chose not chose a cooler metal...like thors hammer...could have been a meteorite but isntead they call it uru metal....and in reality...Iron in a meteor and iron found in the crust are basically the same thing. They came from the same star blowing up.

[@bardmadsen6956]

The narrative is that comets are "Fluffy Nothings". Our newest meteor stream, The Taurids, was produced by the break-up of a comet, just like all other meteor streams, so comets contain all kinds of material, not just snow and sand.

[@Cameronmid1]

I commented this on your other video most recent video but I wanted to say it here too. I've been meaning to check up and if you've made any more videos and as my favorite small content creator I'm glad to see that you have. Keep it up dude I really love you videos, I can't describe how awesome I think they are. I hope you keep at it!

[@Polaris_Videos]

Thanks mate, this really means a lot!! These videos take some time to make so I appreciate you sticking around

[@tommeakin1732]

On "iron", the earliest Proto-Indo-European (which sets it back to 4500 - 2500 BC) reconstructed root of "iron" is apparently a derivation of *h₁ésh₂r̥ (“blood”). That's interesting to me as, at least in my head, the first thing that comes to mind when I think of blood is watery, running blood; not at all like what you'd get from working meteoric iron lol. I'm not saying they were liquifying iron that long ago as I have no evidence of that, but it's interesting.

[@KarolOfGutovo]

Maybe similarities between how a blade badly cared for would get bloody streaks (from rust)

[@tommeakin1732]

@@KarolOfGutovo Whoops, I meant to bring up rust as well in that! Iron will rust without even being formed into a blade, so it could be seen as a defining trait as well. Though rust isn't the same shade as blood - though maybe it can be when dried?

[@demox4435]

Iron tastes like blood, blood tastes like iron.

[@RWMAirgunsmithing]

Rust...

[@stanleysmith7551]

Blood has a lot of iron in it actually...although how on Earth would proto- Indo- Europeans know that is beyond me. Must be aliens! 😂

[@davidcarr7436]

According to legend, the blacksmith who forged James Bowie's original knife used steel made from meteoric iron.

[@YouTube_user3333]

Imagine how much ground you’d have to cover in order to find enough material. Or you’d have to be lucky enough to see one fall and find it. Either way, it blows me away that ancient people would undertake such mammoth tasks.

[@zoutewand]

Ancient people took up more mammoth tasks than we did probably

[@Born_Stellar]

there is an area in namiba(?) that has tones of meteorites just lying on the sand in the desert. people knew about them for decades but it was only in the last few decades people identified them as meteorites and gathered them.

[@BlazRa]

In most games I've played I've had a blade like this I usually call it star fang.

[@matthew_thefallen]

Great graphics! But you forgot to mention the most famous fantasy sword made out of a meteorite iron: Excalibur. Or at least, I hope I remember correctly 😅

[@gw7120]

Ramse the 3rd had a green meteorite blade knife !

[@joepenrose1]

Cool subject and awesome video, got my sub 😁👌👍

[@DeathLands]

The main difference between a meteor and a meteorite is that a meteor burns up in the Earth's atmosphere, while a meteorite lands on the ground

[@tauIrrydah]

Don't forget his meteoric glass chair decotration!

[@samuelhuber3765]

that isnt a ceremonial knife thats a double edged dagger a very efficient weapon

[@henryisnotafraid]

This was so well done it had me enthralled from one subject to the next but you made great connections well they really well done!

[@Wigington24]

Something spiritual about that

[@AManCalledBiggles]

I know there's a market for pre-nuclear bomb metals due to radiation - I wonder how meteoric iron ranks for such uses?

[@tdubs9981]

Hell yeah, Star Metal.

[@GreekMaoist]

Great video like always

[@BlazRa]

I bet Mars is constantly criticizing the astroid belt "Get your shyt together" Astra😭 (I'm too jealous of Jupiter)

[@Seawolfaka]

Wasn’t the Egyptian knife made for a different pharaoh ? It was supposed to be in a different tomb

[@jewiesnew3786]

I wonder if we can recreate the Widmanstätten pattern here on earth.

[@danvelez5838]

❤ and respect for the LOTR and avatar references😊

[@Bar_D_Forge]

All iron comes from space... All the elements are born in stars...

[@elizabethboyd6904]

Really interesting 😊

[@Polaris_Videos]

thanks :)

[@davidchase9424]

Heaven/The Firmament "Space" doesn't exist as we have been taught.

[@jacobdavis9055]

You forgot one i thought was important is jim bowies original bowie knife

[@QuickStrikes84]

I’d much rather have swords made out of S7 or L6 and guns out of ordinance steel. Modern metal chemistry and heat treating is magic compared to the best Iron Age stuff. Even the much hyped Damascus/wootz steel and Japanese tamahagane pales in comparison to what we have now.

[@Grant918Tulsa]

7:58 That's terrible. We should really give it back.

[@bojcio]

thats fucking badass

[@tommeakin1732]

3:52 I looked this up, and it sounds like these Greek-Latin examples are not as you made out. From what I've read it doesn't seem wildly likely that Greek "sideros" is linked to Latin; it's unclear, and "semantically unconvincing". It seems as likely that σίδᾱρος (sidaros) is linked to a "silver", or Udi "zido" (“iron”), and there's also an idea that it just means "red metal". I was going to write out the ideas around Latin "sidus", but it's so damn tedious to write it all out that I can't be bothered lol. You can look it up haha.

[@meteorock]

Creative

[@RokStembergar]

This is a profound video, at least to myself

[@RatherCrunchyMuffin]

Whoa. Bro. But like. ALL iron swords came from a rock in space

[@zoutewand]

Reading thru other comments I learned there is earth native iron, called telluric iron. Its mainly from Greenland

[@Born_Stellar]

@@zoutewand before that iron was part of the earth, it was a space rock. all iron comes from the core of stars.

[@joshuaugust]

Is sheaf a British thing? It’s a sheath where I’m from.

[@scottbruner9266]

Is this the famous polar bear, Dr. Polaris? Sounds similar to me….

[@grau473]

Solid gold sheaf… lol

[@damonl9981]

Cool topic.

[@damenwhelan3236]

Heavenly excrement may not refer to poop. But to excretion.

[@bullwark_of_the_weak]

"water tribe"

[@glen5077]

Vikings made it to space?

[@martywebb1487]

Trans neptunian objects play a part in all that as well

[@peerpede-p.]

Perry was a bad man, he stole the Inuits only source of Iron!

[@Mistater-fl9ur]

Si vous voulez comprendre l’Égyptien mieux que les improvisations phonétiques et sonores des Egyptoplogues qui ont établis ses sonorités avec un free style fait pour ne se comprennent qu'entre soit. Pour s'approcher de ce language; qui n'a ete fait, ni pour la science, ni meme pour un latin, et ce que ceux qui le savent ne vous disent que du bout des levres....Votre étude doit se porter sur l'Arameen.

[@latenightwizard6892]

Reminds me of elden ring 😅

[@GNARGNARHEAD]

great video thanks. man you are gonna kick yourself when you watch Conan 😆👍

[@festeringfingerprintvicodin]

ohhh elden ring

[@santoast24]

YAY!

[@bryanmontgomery996]

It's "sheath" not "sheaf" Your accent has betrayed you.

[@josephshort8637]

So many false assumptions,

[@superawsome6416]

This was watchable until you started describing fictional weapons from middle earth lol

[@ravinraven6913]

I don't think you know where iron comes from...iron is created in the star before it blows up...yes it happens after too but most stars don't blow up. They fuse elements to heavier elements but once it gets to iron it stops...But that means the Iron existed before you mention...So whats left after all the fusing is done is a iron core..... To go super nova...you need to have a star that has a high enough mass...other wise it grows to a Red giant...and then expels its outer layers which is when it leaves the hot iron core.... it sucks when people do smart videos, and say things that are the opposite of smart.

[@aggy69420]

Wakanda moment.

[@Kolesha]

The Quran mentioned this over 1400 years ago.

[@hibbs1712]

It's hard to take the science out of something like that, but I'm sure you know

[@notimeforspace2477]

ah yes the pedo PDF book..gtfo

[@babylonsburning1]

Paedo Mo was told by a fallen angel.

[@sampetrie340]

And the black stone of Mecca is believed by scientists to be of meteoric origin.

[@sampetrie340]

The Black Stone of Mecca is believed by many scientists to be of meteoric origin.

[@andrerousseau5730]

You need to get your basic nomenclature correct: it's METEORITIC!

[@iammichaeldavis]

Watch out folks we got a badass over here

[@user-sv9je7bz4j]

A SHEATH is what a knife/dagger is kept in. A SHEAF is a bundle of grain. For real, proof your work BEFORE you publish.

[@lawrenceragnarok1186]

No, no they weren't lol. It's fun to just make stuff up in the internet though. "everybody is so creative"

[@xjunkxyrdxdog89]

"No they weren't" what are you refuting? He cites his source... what are yours?

[@ScottRagland]

04:45 anime appearance = this user out, forever. what a bunch of AI clickbait....

[@johnmarble4873]

Why are you bringing fantasy bs into this? Wtf does comic book metals have to di any f'n thing to do with metoritic swords? You lost me as soon as you said vibrainium.

[@bussi7859]

Too boooooooring to watch

[@raymorphis5714]

into days terms this is call 15N20 steel and is used in pattern wielding . since the people who lived in africa Never learned how to smelt iron OR make steel on their own what we call Cold Hammmering would be the only process these people had to even start to shape the iron they did find.

[@BMCKTN]

I'm here because of Valheim lore.

[@Ronald_302]

you're too slow