The Cosmic Connection

We have a simple cosmic ray detector that can be built by high school teachers. This detector can be used to measure the rate, energy and direction of cosmic rays. It can also measure how cosmic rays vary with elevation. In addition, it is a valuable tool to teach elementary measurement statistics. This unit is part of Berkeley Lab's ABC of Nuclear Science online science unit.

• A brief description of the Detector
• Instruction manual
• Using the Berkeley Detector
• Obtaining parts
• Setting up the detector
• Join our discussion group on the detector
• Interfacing the detector to a computer

• On August 25, 2015, NPR used this detector on its program All Things Together to demonstrate how muons can be used to examine the core of the nuclear reactor at Fukushima.
• We have made a partial map of the places where the detector has gone.
• In April of 2012, we gave this talk to the American Physical Society in honor of 100 years of Cosmic Ray Physics. We have both PDF and PowerPoint versions.
• Presentation to the Seattle Cosmic Ray Workshop
• The Cosmic Connection is now on YouTube or you can view it from our site which has an easy to remember URL - tinyurl.com/CosmicConnectionMovie.
• In 2001, a group of teachers attended the High Energy Physics retreat at Snowmass and measured the flux of muon from sea level to 3.5 km.
• Radman Zarbock, from the Athenian School in Danville, has done several interesting experiments with the Berkley Cosmic Ray Detector. These include studying the cosmic ray flux in a building and measuring the the flux as one climbs a mountain.
• Descriptions of projects with the Berkeley Lab Cosmic Ray Telescope
• Other interesting cosmic ray web sites.

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Join our discussion group on the Berkeley Detector.