Cosmic Ray

Students analyze tracks in a cloud chamber.

Students examine data to find how energy, momentum, and mass are related.

Students construct histograms, identify the best value to represent the data, and report the uncertainty in their answers. 

Students build basic histogram skills required in many of the other activities in the Data Activities Portfolio.

Students collect data from muons which decay in the MINERvA detector in the Fermilab NuMi beamline to understand particle decay and determine the muon lifetime.

Rolling dice serves as the model for decaying particles.

In this introductory tutorial, students learn about how to distinguish muon signals from background and instrumental noise.

Students analyze signals and noise first in audio and video forms and then look at signals and noise from physics measurements.

Teams of students organize cards depicting fundamental particles based on their characteristics. This activity is a foundation for learning about the Standard Model and parallels the methods used by scientists to organize the elements into the period table.

Students learn how physicists measure muon lifetime.