A metal nut fell from the sky just now and landed in front of me.

It's a flange nut from what I can tell. It could have come off of anything.

Google - Flange Nut

reply to post by daraSD



nah no name on the nut.
umm it's about the same diameter as an australian 5cent coin which is, according to wikipedia 19.41 mm.

reply to post by pwrthtbe


yeah that's what it is. damn it could have come from anything.

I agree with the other posters,looks exactly like a bicycle wheel nut. Probably was some kids with a "wrist rocket"/slingshot of some sort. From the sound of it your very lucky it didnt hit you,it could do serious damage,really.

reply to post by nickoli


should I buy a lotto ticket?

i'm 100% sure it fell vertical.

flash physics test time: if a nut bounces half a a meter when it hit the grass. what speed would it have been travelling?

I'm guessing, kids and a slingshot. They do you those type nuts in a lot of kids toys eg; swing sets, bikes, etc. It reduces cost because you don't need a lock washer, its self locking, just china saving $$. Probably not something off of a sattelite, or plane, although it could be something off a rocket from India.

reply to post by Nventual


I saw one of those near the bike rack at the Dali museum in St Petersburg FL. Instantly concluded that it was from the nutted hub of a kids bike but now you have me thinking. The end of the airport runway is right across the street so...

just to clear something up.. slingshots aren't sold in toy shops in Australia. the only slingshots we have are expensive $200 ones for sporting purposes and you sometimes need a permit for them. very uncommon to know someone who has a slingshot, let alone a kid.

Your in Australia... probably off a quantas jet

reply to post by Destroyer2012

Haha yeah no kidding, that's exactly why I looked up after it happened! I thought "Quantas!"

reply to post by Nventual


Good thing it missed hitting you haha

It's so weird because
1) I hardly ever go into the backyard
2) Slingshots are so rare to find here
3) There's nothing in my backyard it could have come from.


There's a little bit of rust on the other side of the nut so I don't think it could have come from a satellite (unless it rains in space) or anything exciting like that.

reply to post by Nventual


A decent slingshot is fairly easily to make, just putting that out there

But from another angle, you say there was no planes, but I wonder how far a plane could get, after losing a nut, before said nut hits earth?

And I assume you don't have tornadoes in Oz, so I'm not going to suggest that, they have been know to cause frog rain hundreds of miles away.

reply to post by woogleuk


well we do get tornadoes but they're as rare as slingshots.
the weather is all clear though hardly even any clouds.

what height would it have dropped from if it bounced half a meter off soft grass?

i stood there throwing it into the air and stuff afterwards but i couldn't get it to bounce at all.

Maybe its paranormal.

Maybe its from a different dimension or time and came through a wormhole.
Maybe a ghost flung it at you to get your attention.

Both Ive experienced.
Its rare but it does happen

reply to post by xynephadyn


Do other dimensions experience rust too?

You may be on to something though. When I was looking around the sky afterwards these two magpies (they're large birds) landed right next to me and it freaked me out because they can attack people so I went inside for a minute came back out and they're standing right at my back door. I threw a couple of peices of bread at them and they were casually eating it like 5cm from me.

Never happened before either.

*cue twilight zone music*

reply to post by Nventual


Magpie's............. I Think you have Solved the puzzel.

Magpie's often take shiney objects.

Just my Thought's....

I sure am glad it didn't hit you - wow that would have hurt. Slingshots can be bought off the internet - my boyfriend just got one so he could sling a wire over a tree to make a Ham antennae or some such thing. I have heard of fish and frogs falling from the sky - I suppose there are plenty of nutty space junk up there. In the near future we may all be wearing helmets!

Ok so, i maybe lost but what is the explanation so far as of where this nut came from? Birds pick up all sorts of things. Maybe a bird picked up a nut off of the road or something and felt the cold from it and realized it was not food and dropped it? Thats really the only thing i could think of. Possible /fail? Maybe not.

Magpies. Now that is an important clue. They love to pick up shiny metal objects. I would put my money down on that being your answer.