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May 10, 2018

pg.1

Table of contents
Table of contents-pg #1

Research paper- pg. # 2-3

Purpose-pg.#4

Hypothesis-Pg.#4

Material list- pg.#4

Procedure- Pg.#5

Results- pg.# 6-7

Data analysis- pg. #8

Conclusion- pg. #9-10

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Muons: What Are They And Can They be Stopped

Muons surround us and interact with us all the time. They are unseen, but are

constantly impacting us both day and night. So what is a muon? A muon is an

elementary particle that is the same as an electron but heavier (John/Sheldon/Webster,

EPPG). Before we discuss where muons come from we must address cosmic rays.

Cosmic rays, or cosmic radiation is a form of background radiation that we, as humans,

are subjected to everyday. Cosmic radiation is the radiation that comes from the

universe, including our Sun and supernovas (Friedlander 17). Since they come from the

sun and supernovas primarily you can probably guess what they are mostly made of…

Hydrogen which is the most abundant element in our universe. (Friedlander 15). When

cosmic rays enter our atmosphere and collide with an electrically neutralized atom, and

knocks electron(s) out of said particle and leaves residue called ions or ionized particles

in the atmosphere (Friedland 17). These ions become mesons or pions which in turn

become muons.

How do Muons effect us?

This is important is because enough ionizing radiation can be life changing.

Radiation prevents cells from doing their intended functions. For example, when DNA is

damaged by ionized radiation, it repairs fairly quickly, but not always properly and when

damaging many DNA strands at once it is probable that it will not be repaired properly.

When repairs are done improperly it can lead to things such as cancer (Robert Peter

Gale, M.D., and Eric Lax). Not only cancer, but radiation burns and other side effects

such as nausea and vomiting occur when exposed to radiation although this is only

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when exposed to radioactive substances which doesn’t happen that often. The real

problems they present are for long term space travel. The reason we are not always

burning and and vomiting is because of our atmosphere. “Earth's magnetic field and

atmosphere shields the planet from 99.9 percent of the radiation from space.” stated by

Contributor, Elizabeth Howell Space.com. “What Are Cosmic Rays?” Space.com, 21

Apr. 2016.​ After leaving our atmosphere humans get exposed to 0.66 sievert that is the

equivalent of “receiving a whole-body CT scan every five or six days.” as stated by

Contributor, Elizabeth Howell Space.com. “What Are Cosmic Rays?” Space.com, 21

Apr. 2016. ​To put into perspective “1 sievert is associated with a 5.5 percent increase in

the risk of fatal cancers. The normal daily radiation dose received by the average

person living on Earth is 10 microsieverts (0.00001 sievert).”​stated by Contributor,

Elizabeth Howell Space.com. “What Are Cosmic Rays?” Space.com, 21 Apr. 2016.

This now poses the question of how do we protect ourselves from muons. Well in

the case of humans that stay well within our atmosphere we are relatively safe as

mentioned earlier, but in the case of long term space travel the science is relatively

undiscovered. Some hypothesize that water is the best solution because life on earth

could start under water without an atmosphere as protection ( Robert Peter Gale, M.D.,

and Eric Lax pg. 138), while others claim things such as foils and plastics are the

answer (Wall). No matter how you look at it, this particular area of science is relatively

undiscovered, leaving a whole new realm of opportunities for discovery.

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Purpose:​ Do certain materials block cosmic rays more effectively than others?

Hypothesis: ​ If water blocked radiation before plant life helped create an atmosphere

prevented the majority of radiation from hitting then water will protect the phone from

cosmic radiation the best meaning the least rays will be counted. Other materials such

as plastic and lead should also effectively block muons caused by cosmic rays, and we

should also observe a decrease in muons counted when these materials are used, as

well.

Materials:

● 2 Gallon sized plastic bags

● Bowl to hold water in

● Lead foil- 12 in. x 12 in x 1/16in.

● Timer

● Wooden box

● Black electrical tape

● Phone

● Muon counting app (Cosmic Ray; www.cosmicrayapp.com)

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Procedure:

● Independent variable: ​Type of blocker material

● Dependant variable: ​muons counted

● Constants: ​Same position of phone, same surface area of material, same length

of radiation exposure, same type of radiation, same position of blocker material,

same environment.

● Control: no blocker

1. Put black tape over the phone camera

2. Place phone in a specific, darkened, location

3. Put blocker on the phone

4. Set up the timer

5. Start the app and the timer

6. Allow app to count muons for 9 hours

7. Stop app

8. Record muons counted and time elapsed

9. Calculate muons per hour (Muons counted/time elapsed)

10. Repeat steps 1-9 with same blocker two more times

11. Take blocking material off

12. Change materials

13. Repeat steps 1-10 with remaining materials yet to be tested

14. Repeat steps 1-10 with no blocker as the control

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Results

Raw Data
Material Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Average Std Dev RSD

Lead Foil 168 163 159 163 5 3%


Plastic Bag 156 163 147 155 8 5%
Water (1
inch) 153 175 146 155 15 10%
Nothing 188 176 183 182 6 3%
● All trials were executed using 9 hours of exposure time.

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Data analysis

The data shows that lead foil, plastic bags and water all blocked muons to some

extent. When compared to “nothing”, all three materials showed a decrease in muons

counted on the detector. The data also shows that no one material was better than

another. Lead, plastic, and water all blocked muons to a similar extent. Water may

have had no effect since the detector had to be wrapped in plastic bag, in order to be

submerged. Since there is no difference between the plastic bag and the water, which

includes the plastic bag, it would appear that water had no effect in blocking muons.

One possible issue with the water experiment is that it wasn’t possible to remove all the

air pockets from the plastic bag during the measurement. Therefore, the effective depth

of the detector in the water may have been variable. That may be partially responsible

for the larger standard deviation in the data for the water, which had a relative standard

deviation of 10% vs 3-5% for the other materials. To improve these results, finding a

methodology to submerge the detector at a consistent depth without air bubbles would

need to be found.

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Conclusion

` In conclusion the results do not support my hypothesis that water would

prevent muons better than the other materials. By just looking at the separate trials and

the averages plastic does a better job of preventing muons than water or lead foil, but

looking at the standard deviation of each of the trials it shows that all of the materials

have about the same effect on muons counted. While all of these results are better than

the 182 muons counted with no protection, water, plastic and lead are about equivalent

in muon stopping ability over the course of 9 hours. The average muons counted for

water was about 158, plastic bags had a count of about 155, and lead foil had a count of

about 163 plastic bags has the most potent effect but the standard is about ten percent

of plastics mean putting it at a maximum of 163 muons counted while waters mean puts

it at 166 and lead foil’s muon counts reaches 172. All of these numbers overlap showing

that no material showed a significant advantage over another.

The water result also shows that water may not have any effect, at all, since the

detector was covered by a plastic bag. It would be expected that the water trial would

have a lower count value than plastic, since it would be combination of the two

materials. The results did not show this, though it is possible that the detector was not

submerged sufficiently in order for water to have a significant effect.

Further studies, focusing one material at a time, would help better understand the

effect of materials blocking muons. For instance, changing the thickness of the lead foil

or plastic bag would better assess the effectiveness of a material. Similarly, changing

the depth of the water would better describe whether water has any impact on blocking

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muons. If we are to apply this information to events like space travel, where weight of

the material becomes important, understanding how much of a material is needed

would be very important.

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pg.11

Bibliography:

● Type of source: Website

○ Author: Elizabeth Howell

○ Date Published: April 21, 2016

○ Title of Publication or Website: Space. com

○ Type of Website: Company

○ Title of article: What Are Cosmic Rays?

○ URL: ​https://www.space.com/32644-cosmic-rays.html

● Type of Source: Website

○ Author: Mike Wall

○ Date Published: June 14, 2013

○ Title of Publication or Website: Space.com

○ Type of Website: Company

○ Title of article: Plastic Could Protect Astronauts from Deep-Space

Radiation

○ URL:

https://www.space.com/21561-space-exploration-radiation-protectio

n-plastic.html

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● Type of source: Website

○ Author: John/Sheldon/Webster Elementary Particle Physics Group

○ Title of Article: What is a Muon

○ Type of Website: Company

○ URL:

http://www.hep.vanderbilt.edu/~webstems/qnweb/qnpptr/What_is_a_Muon

.pdf

● Type of Source: Book

○ Author: Michael W. Friedlander

○ Title of book: ​A Thin Cosmic Rain, Particles From Outer Space

● Type of source: Book

○ Author: Robert Peter Gale, M.D., and Eric Lax

○ Title of book:​ Radiation What It Is, What you Need to Know

● Type of source: Book

○ Author: Timothy J. Jorgensen

○ Title of book:​ Strange Glow: The Story Of Radiation

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Acknowledgments
I would like to acknowledge my father for supporting me throughout this
experiment. Although i can be difficult at times he stuck with me and I would not be able
to have completed this project without his morale and financial support.

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