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--------------------- - 1624 - How powerful are Cosmic Rays?-
- Cosmic rays are high-energy particles traveling at near light speed that shower Earth on a continuous basis. These rays are not rays it all they are particles like protons that are the nuclei of hydrogen atoms. But, they could be any element nuclei even iron nuclei.
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- When cosmic rays enter the upper atmosphere they collide with air molecules. These collisions create a shower of more fundamental particles and lighter particles rain down to the surface of the earth. Protons, neutrons, pions, muons, electrons, positrons, neutrinos, anti-neutrinos, gamma rays, are all falling on our heads.
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- Where do these cosmic rays come from?
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- It is hard to tell. They are electrically charged particles that can enter Earth's magnetic field and begin spiraling in loops that hide their trajectory. A charged particle moving through a magnetic field experiences a force at right angles to its direction of motion. ( This is how an electric motor works.) This causes the trajectory to spiral. When these rays are detected it is impossible to tell which direction they were coming from. ( See review # 541 that calculates the radius of the spiral of a cosmic ray entering the Earth's magnetic field.)
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- ------------- Recent discoveries have found the source of high energy particles:
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- It is supernovae explosions that act as particle accelerators boosting the speed of these charged particles up to near light speed velocities.
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- Inside the supernovae shockwave exploded material piles up and collides with the particles in the interstellar space. Protons are boosted up to 9,700,000 miles per hour. The speed of light is 670, 633,500 mph. That is 1.4% the speed of light.
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- The speed boost comes from the positive electric charge of the proton crossing over the magnetic field boundary formed by the shockwave. The result can be that the proton zips back and forth on repeat occasions gaining in speed each trip. Eventually it escapes at cosmic-ray velocities up to 90% the speed of light, 600,000,000 miles per hour.
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- Protons, hydrogen nuclei, make up to 90% of the cosmic rays detected on Earth. Negative electrons and positive charged heavier element nuclei make up the remaining 10%.
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------------------- How the discoveries were made?
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- The elusive cosmic rays got tracked through secondary collisions. When a proton collides with another proton sitting in interstellar space the collision creates a neutral pion. The pion decays into two gamma rays at precisely 67,500,000 electron volts.
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- These collisions became energy signatures of the path of cosmic rays. Using this method astronomers have concluded that the supernovae explosions are the source of high energy cosmic rays.
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- Astronomers are still studying the details of how the charge particles interact with the magnetic field in the shockwave to accelerate particles to such high energy levels.
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- - Most cosmic rays pass through the Earth without touching anything. Their kinetic energy is 1/2 * mass * (velocity)^2 . Most cosmic rays have energies that vary from 10,000,000 to 10,000,000,000 electron volts.
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------------------------------------ KE = ½ M*v^2
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- 10 cosmic rays pass through your thumb every minute. If you were an astronaut above Earth's atmosphere then 500 would passthrough your thumb every minute. An astronauts body would get 5,000 hits per minute or up to a maximum of 5,000 every second. You can see why space travelers will need special protection to avoid harmful exposure to this radiation.
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- There are high-energy cosmic rays that have 100,000,000,000,000,000,000 electron volts.( 10^20) They strike a square mile of Earth every 39 years. But, the Earth has a lot of square miles.
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--------- How much energy is 10 ^20 electron volts?
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- A flashlight is 1 electron volt. A television CRT is 1,000 electron volts. A nuclear reactor is 1,000,000 electron volts. A particle accelerator is 1,000,000,000,000 electron volts. (10^12). A supernovae 10^15. A galactic Blackhole 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 electron volts (10^18). A cosmic ray source unknown is 100,000,000,000,000,000,000 electron volts ( 10^20).
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(1) I have many other reviews on Cosmic Rays #1568, 1496, 1377, 1163, 810, 763, 709, 687, 541, 26. available if you want to learn more.
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RSVP, with comments, suggestions and corrections. An index of all reviews is available. Some reviews are at: -------------------- http://jdetrick.blogspot.com
,or: email request for copies to: ------- jamesdetrick@comcast.net
or: ---- https://plus.google.com/u/0/ ,or, “Jim Detrick” ------- www.facebook.com,
------ www.twitter.com or cell: 707-536-3272 ------ Wednesday, December 25, 2013
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