The muons created by cosmic rays in the upper atmosphere


The muons created by cosmic rays in the upper atmosphere rain down more-or-less uniformly on the earth's surface, although some of them decay on the way down, with a half-life of about 1.5 ,u,s (measured in their rest frame). A muon detector is carried in a balloon to an altitude of 2000 m, and in the course of an hour detects 650 muons traveling at 0.99c toward the earth. If an identical detector remains at sea level, how many muons should it register in one hour? Calculate the answer taking account of the relativistic time dilation and also classically. (Remember that after n half-lives, 2-n of the original particles survive.) Needless to say, the relativistic answer agrees with experiment.

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Electrical Engineering: The muons created by cosmic rays in the upper atmosphere
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