Found 3.8cm non magnetic ball on the beach. No idea what material it is?

[firehelm100]

Hi,
Today i found a metal ball on the beach (what i believe is metal) 3.8cm diameter weighing 91ish grams. My dad believes its not metal but i think it is.
Can anyone help us identify?
I also nipped a bit of the ball off on the grinder and it sparked and showed a shiny surface.
Cant wait for a reply
Lewis

 

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[firehelm100]

Would they put metal into there grape shot as it seems primarily some sort of non magnetic metal.
If it Helps i found it On the south coast of the UK (eastbourne)

 

[ARC]

Post deleted... for I think I misspoke...

I think you may have a banner find here.
FOR...
I think this MAY be an English grape shot cannon ball from the looks of it.

 

[firehelm100]

Just seems odd that its not iron? as its density is only around 3.5g per CM3 which is almost the same as carbon but defantly has a metallic smell and look to it.

 

[ARC]

Heh... your post came before my repost...

SO... I am correct in the "English" part at least.

 

[ARC]

 

[1616]

Looks like a ball bearing, maybe off of some sort of machinery.

 

[IDXMonster]

3.8 mm or cm? 91 grams seems pretty heavy for something 3.8 mm in diameter...

 

[ToastedWheatie]

You say 3.8 mm. I know where not big metric people on my side of the pond, but that looks a bitter larger than that.

Are you sure you don't mean 3.8 cm?

And looking at your ruler, it looks larger than 3.8 cm.

Can you measure the circumference with a tape? We can then figure out correct diameter.
Just a thought.....

 

[firehelm100]

Yes sorry 3.8cm. My mistake.

 

[ARC]

Lets review...

Not metal.
Non magnetic.
Correct weight.
Correct size.

English stone cannon shot.

IMO.

 

[firehelm100]

Lets review...

Not metal.
Non magnetic.
Correct weight.
Correct size.

English stone cannon shot.

IMO.

Thanks for the reply!
But this wouldn't explain the metallic smell? Shiny silver surface which dosent show very well through pictures and the reason it sparked when grinding the surface?

 

[ARC]

? ? ? :/

Metallic smell... ? ? ? not magnetic... not metal but smells like it so you discount theory of it not being metal when physics points in another direction.

Ever think stone may have metal smell ? ? ?

This does not even resemble metal via the photo's... not to mention metal does not "break" like that.
Breaks even resemble stone.

Shiny surface means what / would explain OR determine what ? ? ?

Explanation of both of these observations ? huh wha ?

Are you serious ?

Look you want to downgrade my opinion to make your find a worthless metal item... go ahead.

You can lead a horse to water but cant make it drink.

Patience VS time.

You are now on your own.

 

[firehelm100]

I was only querying your observation not "discounting your theory". I'm just trying to give you a better explanation of the object from my eyes to help you come to a better understanding.
Seems like you dislike anyone else's answer apart from your own.... It's not a fact factory here.

 

[sprailroad]

Need the cannon ball guy on this.

 

[Roger Mn.]

Looks like a toilet tank float. That would explain the metallic smell .

 

[pistol-pete]

Don't know anything about centimeters. How big is that in inches?

 

[firehelm100]

1.496inches

 

[firehelm100]

My dad seems to think it's an old junior billiard ball.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Sprailroad said "Need the cannon ball guy on this."

I wasn't going to comment, because I don't know what the ball is, but since you've requested my input...

The "non-metallic" ball's metric size translates to 1.49-inches. That's too small to be a Colonial Era (or later) cannonball. Could it be a VERY-early stone cannonball? Maaaybe... but what stone ball found on a European beach can't be a stone cannonball? The calibers (Bore- Diameters) of the earliest (pre-Colonial-era, 1300s/1400s) European cannons are not known.

Based on the non-metallic ball's size and weight, in comparison to a same-size ball of cast iron, the non-metallic ball's Specific Gravity is a little bit above 3.0, and most minerals/stones which are not metal ores have a Specific Gravity below 3.0. For example, the SG of granite is 2.66, and limestone (common in the UK) is 2.65, clay is 2.51, quartz is 2.65, and cement is 2.67.

The sparking could be caused when a grinder hits a grain of a "sparking mineral" such as quartz or flint (both of which are Silica).

When I first read the finder's post and saw the photos, I thought the ball might be an extremely "Graphitized" iron ball. Graphitized means the iron object has lost much of its "surface/exterior" iron molecules due to tannic acid exposure in a swamp or coastal marsh. The tannic acid chemically leaches out the iron molecules, leaving behind the naturally-occurring Graphite (an isotope of Carbon) in the iron object. That could explain what the finder describes as a "metallic smell." Graphitized iron has a silvery look when you make a scrape-mark on it. Lastly, an EXTREMELY graphitized iron object will weigh significantly less than it originally weighed, due to the extreme loss of iron molecules from within it. Sounds on-target so far, regarding this ball. But... Graphitized iron is very soft (Graphite is the mineral in pencil-lead), so a grinder would have eaten into it very rapidly, and graphite won't spark.

The photo below shows a Graphitized cast-iron civil war artillery shell, found in a marsh. Note the color of the Graphitized iron. It came out of the marsh looking just as you see it in the photo. NO rust. The surface of Firehelm100's "non-metallic" ball has a similar look.

You asked for my input. The paragaphs above are all I've got. Maybe some of it will put somebody else onto the right track. I don't know what this non-metallic ball is.