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I have a mild allergy to nickel and so have used such testing kits (I tried one called “Nickel-Alert” and another called “Reveal & Conceal”). They’re “qualitative” rather than “quantitative” but very sensitive, and will give a positive result for metallic nickel contents above about 10-15ppm. For that reason, they were of limited value to me since my allergy is only mild and I don’t generally get a skin reaction at those low levels. There are more expensive test strips available (eg Quantofix) which give a better idea of how much nickel is present but at best they’re “semi-quantitative”.
There’s also a product available with the registered trade mark “Meteorite-ID” but it’s essentially the same test solution, branded to attract that market. It doesn’t “identify” meteorites, but gives a positive result in the same way as the allergy-test kits when there is more than about 10-15ppm of metallic nickel.
These tests have their place, but are of limited value. Nickel-containing minerals (non-metallic) are not at all rare in terrestrial rocks, but most of them won’t give a positive result to a test kit. However, neither will the classes of meteorite which have (virtually) no native metal. Terrestrial rocks containing metallic nickel (alloyed or not) which will give a positive result are rather more rare. However, industrial man-made materials such as metallic slags may well also give a positive result.
That means if you have a specimen in which you can see native metal (including as shiny flecks or veins) and it tests negative for nickel, then it’s not a meteorite. But the reverse is not true. If you can see native metal and it tests positive for nickel, you can’t say it is a meteorite… only that the possibility is elevated to the extent that further testing may be worthwhile if other characteristic features of meteorites are present.
