Cosmic Rays By: Philip, Mr. Hong, Kevin, Amanda, Conor, Colin

Table of Contents Question Hypothesis Materials Environmental Conditions Measurements Calculations Error Procedure Graphs and Data Conclusion

Question? What is the effect of sugar water, hot water, and Jell-O on the detection of cosmic rays?

Hypothesis The most dense of the three materials, Jell-O, will decrease the number of counts the most.

Materials Tap water Sugar Two chairs Electrical outlet Cosmic ray detector Cosmic rays Computers (Microsoft word/ Microsoft excel/ Microsoft PowerPoint) Thermometer, barometer, psycrometer Scale

Environmental Conditions Temperature-23.8 Celsius Atmospheric Pressure inch/Hg Relative Humidity 71.45% Weather-Cloudy, Slight Drizzle Location-MSU NSCL Atrium Experiment performed 8/3/06 at 9:00 a.m. ending at 12:00 p.m.

Measurements

Calculation of Error Bars Control: (  921)/921 =30.3/921 =.0329 =3.3% Jello: (  883.5)/883.5 =29.7/883.5 =.0336 =3.36%

Systematic Error Calibration of Cosmic Ray Detector Leakage of Fish Tank Background radiation Gaps between Jell-O Variation of Water Temperature Variation of Pressure

Our Mentor

Procedure Place 2 chairs 55cm apart for tank support Place cosmic ray detector between the chairs under the tank Measure environmental data (Pressure, Temperature, Humidity, time) Take baseline measurement (under tank with cosmic ray detector on infinite and coincidence) Record # counts for baseline in 15 minutes for data (infinite coincidence) for two trials Fill tank with 15.75L of hot tap water Record # counts in data table (infinite coincidence for 15 minutes) for two trials Add 400g of C 6 H 12 O 6 Record # counts in data table (infinite coincidence for 15 minutes) for two trials Empty tank and add 10.5L of Jell-O Record # counts in data table (infinite coincidence for 15 minutes) for two trials Empty tank and make final calculations

Data

Results No significant difference in the number of counts among Jell-O, Hot Water, and Sugar Water Little to no difference between control and shielding materials

Graph

Discussion Hypothesis was incorrect, Jell-O did not provide the best protection Substances with different molecular structures but similar densities may not provide differences in shielding We needed to increase the kinetic energy of the water to dissolve the maximum amount of sugar which may have skewed our data Amount of materials may have prevented significant interaction with cosmic rays