Title

Measuring and Modeling Cosmic Ray Showers with an MBL System: An Undergraduate Project

Authors

David P. Jackson, Dickinson College
Matthew T. Welker, Dickinson College

Roles

Student author: Matthew T. Welker

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-2001

Department

Physics

Language

English

Publication Title

American Journal of Physics

Abstract

Following a brief historical introduction, a novel method for inducing and measuring cosmic ray showers using a low-cost microcomputer-based laboratory system is described. This reproduction of Bruno Rossi’s classic experiment uses low counting-rate radiation monitors. The advantage of this is that a simple AND gate can be used to trigger coincidences, which makes the workings of the experiment completely transparent to undergraduate students. The disadvantage is that data must be taken for many days to get reasonably accurate results. A simple theory is presented that models the resulting shower curve quite well.

Comments

This published version is made available on Dickinson Scholar with the permission of the publisher. For more information on the published version, visit American Association of Physics Teacher's (AAPT) Website.

© 2001 American Association of Physics Teachers

DOI

10.1119/1.1370236

Recommended Citation

Jackson, David P., and Matthew T. Welker. "Measuring and Modeling Cosmic Ray Showers with an MBL System: An Undergraduate Project." American Journal of Physics 69, no. 8 (2001): 896–900. https://aapt.scitation.org/doi/abs/10.1119/1.1370236