--------------------- #1496 - The Mystery of Cosmic Rays
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- In 1912 science concluded that charged particles, called Cosmic Rays, were coming from outer space and not from the Earth below. They were called rays , but, they were not any form of radiation. They were charged atomic particles.
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-------------------- 90% of Cosmic Rays reaching Earth are protons, the positive nucleus of the hydrogen atom.
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-------------------- 1 % are electrons that carry a negative charge.
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-------------------- 9% are atomic nuclei heavier than hydrogen. Positive charges with masses ranging from helium nuclei to iron nuclei.
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- Because any charged particle moving through a magnetic field feels the electromagnetic force at right angles to its direction of travel, it does not travel in a straight line. ( This is why an electric motor works.) Cosmic Rays will spiral along their path of travel hiding any indication of the direction in which they originated. One hundred years later and astronomers are still not sure of the source, or sources, of Cosmic Rays. The candidates range from Gamma Ray Bursts, to Supernovae, to Blackholes.
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- Some Cosmic Rays originate from our Sun’s Solar Flares. These charged particles, protons and electrons, reach our upper atmosphere traveling at 1,000,000 miles per hour (300 miles per second). The Kinetic Energy of these fast moving particles is 0.01 billion electron-volts. We call this the Solar Wind and we give the name Cosmic Rays to much higher energy particles.
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- Most Cosmic Rays have energy levels ranging form 10 million to 10 billion electron-volts. ( 10^7 to 10^10 eV). And, most Cosmic Rays originate in a source inside our Milky Way Galaxy.
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- Galactic Cosmic Rays are so common about 10 of them pass through your thumb every minute.
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- If you are above the Earth’s atmosphere about 500 Cosmic Rays would pass through your thumb every minute.
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- Galactic Cosmic Rays can have energies as great as 10^18 electron volts, ( a billion, billion eV). These charged particles are heavier and are traveling very near the speed of light.
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- Supernovae explosions in our Galaxy could be a likely sources of high energy Cosmic Rays.
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- A few Cosmic Rays coming from outside our Galaxy have been detected with energies up to 100,000,000,000 billion electron volts, ( 10^20 eV). This amount of energy is equivalent to being hit by a tennis ball traveling at 100 miles per hour. However, the mass of these subatomic particles is exceedingly small. To have this amount of energy the are traveling 699,000,000 miles per hour. Kinetic Energy is equal to mass times velocity squared. ( KE = ½*m*v^2)
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- When a Cosmic Ray enters our atmosphere it collides with gas atoms and produces a shower of subatomic particles that reach the surface of Earth.
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- A Cosmic Ray proton collides with a nitrogen nucleus producing a neutron, a positive pion, a negative pion, and a neutral pion. Pions and Mesons are collective names given to elementary particles that have strong interactions with other particles. The negative pion splits into an anti-neutrino and a negative Muon. A Muon is a high energy electron. The positive pion splits into a neutrino and a positive Muon. A neutral pion releases Gamma Rays and produces electrons and anti-electrons. All of these subatomic particles comprise a shower of particles that reach the surface of Earth. The shower can be spread out over an area of 30 square kilometers.
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- The highest energy Cosmic Rays ( > 10^18 eV) are most likely heavier nuclei. An iron nuclei has 26 protons. 26 times the mass of a single proton and also 26 times as much positive charge making it accelerate even faster in a magnetic field.
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- 100 years of study and science is still trying to learn where Cosmic Rays come from? What effects do they have on Earth and on life? Theories are that they may be responsible for DNA mutations that have created the diversity of life we find on Earth? Other theories are that they are responsible for creation of the cloud formations in Earth’s atmosphere. There is nothing like a 100 year old mystery to keep you thinking. An announcement will be made shortly, stay tuned.
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(1) To learn more about Cosmic Rays request Reviews # 1377, #810, #763, #687, #541 to get an e-mail copy.
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RSVP, please reply with a number to rate this review: #1- learned something new. #2 - Didn’t read it. #3- very interesting. #4- Send another review #___ from the index. #5- Keep em coming. #6- I forwarded copies to some friends. #7- Don‘t send me these anymore! #8- I am forwarding you some questions? Index is available with email and with requested reviews at http://jdetrick.blogspot.com/ Please send feedback, corrections, or recommended improvements to: jamesdetrick@comcast.net.
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707-536-3272, Saturday, July 21, 2012
--------- ----------------- 1495 - The Higgs Particle
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- December 9, 2006 Fermilab’s particle accelerator physicists may have detected the Higgs particle. The Higgs Boson is the particle expected to give every other fundamental particle its mass. They saw the particle at 160 GeV ( 160,000,000,000 electron volts, 6^10^11 eV, ), which is close to the theoretical mass of the Higgs.
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- When you got up this morning and hopped on the bathroom scales hoping that you had lost weight the number you get is determined by your mass, the mass and radius of Earth and the force of gravity. The last three probably did not change. So, your weight is determined by your mass, but what determines your mass, besides dieting? Physicists have been pursuing that question for hundreds of years.
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- We know mass as inertia that resists a force trying to accelerate it. The Higgs Boson may be the particle that causes that resistance. Bosons are photons, W-Z bosons, Gluons and now Higgs Bosons. Photons carry the electromagnetic force and have no mass. W-Z bosons carry the nuclear Weak Force but they have a huge mass. The theoretical Higgs Boson would explain the difference between these two forces. Its discovery could unleash an explanation for mass and inertia. It could be one of the fundamental building blocks of nature.
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- Particle accelerators have verified the existence of 12 fundamental particles of matter and 3 fundamental particles of force carriers, but the Higgs has not been found to date. The Higgs is a quantum particle of the Higgs Field that permeates empty space, just as the photon is a quantum particle that permeates an Electric Field. The Higgs Field has a value of 246 GeV. It is a scalar field giving the Higgs Boson a spin of zero, no intrinsic angular momentum. It permeates all of empty space and carries the force that gives the other particles their mass. Theories predict the mass of the Higgs to be between 130 - 190 GeV. This particle discovered at 160 GeV is a good candidate.
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- Particle accelerators need tremendous energies to detect these high mass particles. Why are such high energies necessary. It is because E = h*f, E = h*c/w. “h” is Planck’s Constant. “c” is speed of light. “f“ is frequency. “w” is the wavelength.
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The Energy = 6.6 * 10^-34 kg*m^2/sec * 3*10^8 m/sec / wavelength.
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E = 2*10^-25 / wavelength
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- Wavelength is inversely proportional to Energy. In order to “see” with shorter wavelengths we need to use higher and higher energies.
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The particle accelerator is a type of microscope. Like the electron microscope can see smaller objects than the photon microscope. Larger energies correspond to smaller distances. (See footnote (2) to learn how mass is shown in electron volts.)
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-------------- Energy, or Mass ------------ Length
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---------------- 10^28 eV ------------------ --------------------- Planck scale mass
------------------------------ ------------------ 10^-35 meters - Planck scale length
---------------- 10^27 eV ------------------
---------------- 10^25 eV ------------------ 10^-33 - Three Forces come together
---------------- 10^24 eV ------------------
-------------------------- ---------------------- 10^-30 meters
---------------- 10^21 eV ------------------
---------------------------- -------------------- 10^-27meters
---------------- 10^18 eV ------------------
-------------------------- ----------------------- 10^-24 meters
---------------- 10^15 eV ------------------
--------------------------- ------------------ --- 10^-21 meters - Energy to find the Higgs
---------------- 10^12 eV ----------------------------------- Weak Force scale
------------------------------ ------------------ 10^-18 meters
---------------- 10^9 eV -------------------------------------- proton mass
------------------------------------------------- 10^-15 meters
---------------- 10^6 eV ------------------------------------ electron mass
------------------------------------------------- 10^-12 meters -
---------------- 1,000 eV ---------------- --- 10^-10 meters - size of atom
---------------------------------------------- --- 10^-9 meters
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- Note that larger energies correspond to smaller distances. The large Planck Scale Energy 10^28 electron volts means that the force of gravity is weak. The Weak Force Scale Energy is 10^12 electron volts and it operates over a distance of 10^-18 meters. It is a mystery to physicists why the Planck scale is 16 orders of magnitude more massive than the Weak scale (10^28 vs. 10^12 = 10^16). The Standard Model predicts that if the mass of the W-Boson is between 80.2 and 80.4 GeV. And, the mass of the Top Quark is between 160 and 185 GeV. Then, the Higgs Boson is between 114 and 400 GeV. But, experiments are giving differing results. So, is the Standard Model correct, or incomplete?
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- One of the theories, called Super symmetry, predicts that there are five Higgs Bosons of different masses. However, the Standard Model predicts only a single Higgs. In order to discover which theory is true we need more powerful accelerators. A speed of light collision between protons and anti-protons would create Higgs particles that would decay into 2 Tau Leptons in a fraction of a second. Then the Tau’s would decay into other particles. Physicists are busy studying these collisions and the particle debris they create in search of the illusive Higgs. Its discovery will be a great day in physics.
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-An announcement will be made shortly, stay tuned
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(1) Originally #735
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(2) The mass of a particle is often abbreviated by physicists in Electron Volts. It is shorthand. The assumption is that the Energy number is divided by the speed of light squared. E = m*c^2, therefore, mass = E / c^2. The proton mass is 1 GeV / c^2, 1 billion Electron Volts / c^2 . Where “c” is (3*10^8 meters per second )^2 = 9 * 10^16 meters^2 per seconds^2. One Electron Volt = 1.6*10^-19 Joules. A Joule is kilogram* meter^2 / second^2. Therefore the mass of a proton is E / c^2 = 1*10^9 eV * 1.6*10^-19 kg*m^2 / sec^2 / 9 *10^16 m^2 / sec^2 = 1.6 *10^10 / 9*10^16 = 1.78 * 10^-27 kilograms. Using a more precise calculation the mass of a proton is 1.67 * 10^-27 kilograms
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(3) The more recent measurements put the mass of the Higgs Boson at 125 electron volts discovered in CERN’s particle accelerator. See Review # 1423 to learn more.
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RSVP, please reply with a number to rate this review: #1- learned something new. #2 - Didn’t read it. #3- very interesting. #4- Send another review #___ from the index. #5- Keep em coming. #6- I forwarded copies to some friends. #7- Don‘t send me these anymore! #8- I am forwarding you some questions? Index is available with email and with requested reviews at http://jdetrick.blogspot.com/ Please send feedback, corrections, or recommended improvements to: jamesdetrick@comcast.net.
or, use: “Jim Detrick” www.facebook.com, or , www.twitter.com.
707-536-3272, Wednesday, July 11, 2012
