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ERIC Number: EJ864411
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2009-Nov
Pages: 5
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0031-921X
EISSN: N/A
Student Projects in Cosmic Ray Detection
Brouwer, W.; Pinfold, J.; Soluk, R.; McDonough, B.; Pasek, V.; Bao-shan, Zheng
Physics Teacher, v47 n8 p494-498 Nov 2009
The Alberta Large-area Time-coincidence Array (ALTA) study has been in existence for about 10 years under the direction of Jim Pinfold of the Centre for Particle Physics at the University of Alberta. The purpose of the ALTA project is to involve Alberta high schools, and primarily their physics classes, to assist in the detection of the presence of cosmic ray bursts in different Alberta locations. These cosmic rays involve highspeed elementary particles, many from far outside our solar system and even from outside our galaxy. These particles collide with the particles in our atmosphere, break up these molecules into rather exotic elementary particles which often reach the surface of the Earth and can be detected by fairly simple equipment. One of the objectives of ALTA is to determine the nature of some of the most energetic cosmic ray particles whose origin is still not known. Recently the Pierre Auger Collaboration has confirmed that the highest energy cosmic rays appear to be coming from nearby galaxies. The mechanism for their production is still not well understood.
American Association of Physics Teachers. One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740. Tel: 301-209-3300; Fax: 301-209-0845; e-mail: pubs@aapt.org; Web site: http://scitation.aip.org/tpt
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Elementary Secondary Education; High Schools
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Canada
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A