COSMIC RAY FLUX AT VARIOUS ALTITUDES Aakash Shah, Nick DelCore, Jeff Belshaw

1. COSMIC RAY FLUX AT VARIOUS ALTITUDES Aakash Shah, Nick DelCore, Jeff Belshaw Anderson High School, AP Physics 07-08, Jeff Rodriguez BACKGROUND RESULTS A cosmic particle cascade is when one cosmic ray particle enters the atmosphere. At different altitudes, that one particle will create a cascade of electrons, photons, and muons. As the rays get lower, there are more, but at less energy. The atmosphere slows down the particles and fewer particles are produced with each subsequent interaction. Thanks to Sporty?s Airport out of Clermont county, Ohio, the flux studies were conducted in a Cessna private airplane. Recordings were taken at 2,000 ft intervals above Eastfork Lake in Batavia, Ohio. COSMIC RAY FLUX AT DIFFERENT ALTITUDES All units are (events per 60 seconds) BASE------32 3000ft.-----33 5000ft.-----47 7000ft.-----54 9000ft.-----68 MATERIALS AND METHODS • Materials • (2) 400cm^2 scintillator panels* • (2) Photo multiplier tubes* • (1) Hp Povallian DTX65 Laptop • (1) N563SC Cessna Private Airplane • (1) Battery 9 Volt** • (1) Battery Power Inverter** • Oscilloscope*** • *All major constituents of cosmic ray detector • **Along with all applicable cables and wires • ***Pre-test equipment (not used in flight) • Procedure • Set up cosmic ray detector • Run pre-tests with oscilloscope to make sure there are no leaks in the panels • Connect laptop up to cosmic ray detector • Run test trial on the ground for 3 minuets • Board airplane and set position for detector and laptop • Ascend up to 9000ft • Record flux readings for 3 minuets • Descend to 7000ft • Record flux readings for 3 minuets • Descend to 5000ft • Record flux readings for 3 minuets • Descend to 3000ft • Record flux readings for 3 minuets • Land plane • Take last trial on ground PURPOSE AND HYPOTHESIS The results from the graphs follow the same pattern in that as the altitude increases, the count per minuite decreases. The purpose of this experiment was to measure the amout of flux in cosmic ray activity at different levels in the lower atmosphere. .Our hypothesis was that if there is an increase in altitude, there would also be a decrease in the number of cosmic rays. This variation in the flux of cosmic rays is because as the detector is at a point of greater altitude, there is less of a cascade, and so, we expected to detect less cosmic rays. CONCLUSIONS The results indicate that there is an increase in cosmic rays with an increase in altitude. This can explained by the fact that the cascades start much higher in the atmosphere. The readings were taken at an altitude were the cosmic rays were being absorbed by the atmosphere in significant amounts and the cascades were well developed. Readings would have to be taken at much higher altitudes to confirm this. Another possible explanation is that there WERE more cosmic rays at lower altitudes, but our equipment was not able to read those rays with such a small amount of energy.