In an attempt to understand some of the physical processes involved in the interaction between helium driven shock waves in argon and powdered solids, microscopic, x‐ray, and chemical techniques have been employed in conjunction with the spectroscopic observations to study the changes in grain surfaces before and after shock treatment. The shock wave particle interaction has many points of similarity to that of the traversal of a meteoroid through the upper atmosphere and, as expected, evidence of severe surface ablation has been noted in many cases. In some, interesting surface chemical changes have occurred (e.g.,Fe2O3 → Fe3O4) and in others [AgCN,Fe3Co(CN)6] the formation of carbon, as soot particles, has been correlated with the spectra.