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Meteorites are not magnets -
they won't attract paper clips or pins. Most (>95%) meteorites (chondrites,
irons), however, will attract a magnet because they
contain a lot of iron-nickel metal.
Some of the rarest kinds of
meteorites (achondrites, lunar meteorites, martian meteorites) do not
attract magnets because they contain little or no metal. Most terrestrial
(Earth) rocks also do not attract magnets for the same reason. Some earth
rocks do attract magnets,
however, because they contain the mineral magnetite.
A good way to test if a rock
is attracted to a magnet is with a circular ceramic magnet like those often
used for "refrigerator magnets." Put it on its edge on a flat,
hard surface. If a rock attracts a magnetic, you can cause the magnet to
roll by pulling the magnet with the rock.
Don't use a neodymium (rare
earth) magnet. Those things are so strong that they will attract many kinds
of terrestrial rocks. An ordinary
chondrite will respond to a simple refrigerator magnet.
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Throw away your rare earth magnet. Iron
meteorites are strongly attracted to even weak magnets.
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Bottom Line
If you have a rock that does attract a magnet, then it's
probably not a meteorite because magnetite-rich Earth rocks are much more
common than meteorites. Cut or break it open. If it has lots of metal
flecks or veins like these ordinary chondrites, then it might be a meteorite (but industrial
slags sometimes contain metal).
If you have a rock that does not attract a magnetic, it could be a meteorite, but the
probability is exceedingly small because nonmagnetic Earth rocks are more
common than any kind of achondritic meteorite.
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