What is cosmic rays and its effect?

What is cosmic rays and its effect?

Cosmic rays are extremely high-energy subatomic particles – mostly protons and atomic nuclei accompanied by electromagnetic emissions – that move through space, eventually bombarding the Earth’s surface. They travel at nearly the speed of light, which is approximately 300 000 kilometres per second.

How do you detect cosmic-ray showers?

Showers can be detected at even larger distances by the fluorescence light which is emitted by nitrogen molecules when charged particles are passing near-by. Imaging devices (‘telescopes’ with photomultipliers as cameras) can see the track of air showers through the atmosphere.

What is cosmic-ray detection?

A cosmic-ray observatory is a scientific installation built to detect high-energy-particles coming from space called cosmic rays. This typically includes photons (high-energy light), electrons, protons, and some heavier nuclei, as well as antimatter particles.

What are the major properties of cosmic-ray?

Cosmic rays are mostly high-speed atomic nuclei and electrons. Speeds equal to 90% of the speed of light are typical. Almost 90% of the cosmic rays are hydrogen nuclei (protons) stripped of their accompanying electron. Helium and heavier nuclei constitute about 9% more.

What is the effect of cosmic rays on human?

How much Space Radiation are Astronauts Exposed to? Beyond Low Earth Orbit, space radiation may place astronauts at significant risk for radiation sickness, and increased lifetime risk for cancer, central nervous system effects, and degenerative diseases.

How do cosmic rays affect the Earth?

High-energy radiation from space, known as galactic cosmic rays, can affect Earth’s climate by increasing cloud cover and causing an “umbrella effect”, according to scientists. This is particular during Earth’s geomagnetic reversal — a phenomenon where the planet’s overall magnetic field flips.

What are cosmic ray showers?

Cosmic ray showers are cascades initiated by cosmic rays interacting in the atmosphere. Cascades had already been observed in the 1920s when a single track belonging to a charged particle was observed to split into two tracks.

What is a ray shower?

: a shower of ionizing particles originating in bombardment by a single cosmic ray that reveals itself by leaving tracks in a cloud chamber or by actuating a counting tube.

What are cosmic rays used for?

Cosmic rays are high energy particles that flow into our solar system from outer space. They are essential for the production of 14C in our atmosphere, which is used in radiocarbon dating, and in the production of cosmogenic nuclides in rocks at the Earth surface, which we use in cosmogenic nuclide dating[1-3].

How do cosmic rays affect humans?

Radiation can alter the cardiovascular system, damaging the heart, harden and narrow arteries, and/or eliminate some of the cells in linings of the blood vessels, leading to cardiovascular disease. Radiation exposure can hinder neurogenesis, the process of generating new cells in the brain.

What are the importance of cosmic rays?

The composition of cosmic rays is important because these rays are a direct sample of matter from outside the solar system and contain elements that are much too rare to be seen in spectroscopic lines from other stars. They also provide important information on the chemical evolution of the universe.

Can cosmic rays give you superpowers?

To acquire superpowers, you would need a place steeped in high-energy radiation. Such a source lurks 600 to 12,000 miles outside Earth in the Van Allen radiation belt, where the planet’s magnetic field traps radioactive particles, like gamma rays created by solar wind or cosmic rays from other galaxies.

What do you call a cosmic ray air shower?

These secondary cosmic rays constitute about one third of the natural radioactivity. When a primary cosmic ray produces many secondary particles, we call this an air shower. When many thousand (sometimes millions or even billions) of particles arrive at ground level, perhaps on a mountain, this is called an extensive air shower (EAS).

How does the number of particles increase in a cosmic ray shower?

The number of particles starts to increase rapidly as this shower or cascade of particles moves downwards in the atmosphere. On their way and in each interaction the particles loose energy, however, and eventually will not be able to create new particles.

What do you call an extensive air shower?

When many thousand (sometimes millions or even billions) of particles arrive at ground level, perhaps on a mountain, this is called an extensive air shower (EAS). Most of these particles will arrive within some hundred meters from the axis of motion of the original particle, now the shower axis.

How are particles detected in an air shower?

Extensive air showers with many particles arriving on the ground can be detectedwith different kinds of particle detectors. In the air the particles may also emit light by two different processes: Cherenkov light almost along the shower axis and fluorescence light in all directions.