Post your questions for Professor Mark Oreglia from The University of Chicago here.
17 | DeVonta B. asks: |
Show | What exactly happened with the solar explosion on April 25th, 2010? |
Once again, I have to catch up on answering your good questions! First, I am very happy DeVonta asks about the recent solar flare. Did you see it on http://spaceweather.com/ ? They have good pictures, and tell you how many cosmic rays in the form of the "solar wind" are coming towards us. You might even be able to see solar spots with your telescope this week. These explosions are like volcanic eruptions on the sun, but much stronger than the ones on earth. When they happen, a lot of material (cosmic rays!) are launched from the sun, and we see their effects here on earth. They interfere with radio transmissions, so you might see an effect on your SW radio too! Now, for the other questions:
The wind does not effect them, because they go too fast for the wind to interfere with them. What you can do to decrease the cosmic ray rate that you measure with your instruments is to go somewhere there is a lot of heavy material between you and the sky, such as in a basement. Bricks, concrete and steel can absorb some of the cosmic rays, so fewer of them make it to your counting instrument. |
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16 | Andrew S. asks: |
Show | What happens during a sun explosion? |
15 | Nechelle V. asks: |
Show | Does the wind effect Cosmic Rays in any way? |
14 | Taiwo F. asks: |
Show | Can cosmic rays cause us any harm? |
13 | Adrienne W. asks: |
Show | What exactly affects the cosmic ray count and is there a way it can be altered to get a higher or lower number? |
Hey guys, I have a lot of catching up to do! I'll answer a bunch of good questions now. 1) Is the sun the only place where cosmic rays come from? Does the position of Earth have any effect on how many cosmic rays we receive?
2) My question is that why does everybody has different cosmic ray count.
3) Why is the barometric pressure on weather.com never the same as the barometric pressure read in the classroom on the mmHg?
4) Can Meteor showers,Asteroids,and Comets effect the cosmic ray counts.Why?
5) Could cosmic rays be possibly harmful to humans?
6) What exactly affects the cosmic ray count and is there a way it can be altered to get a higher or lower number?
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12 | Dominique S. asks: |
Show | Could cosmic rays be possibly harmful to humans? |
11 | Syrena T. asks: |
Show | Can Meteor showers,Asteroids,and Comets effect the cosmic ray counts.Why? |
10 | Mariyam S. asks: |
Show | Why is the barometric pressure on weather.com never the same as the barometric pressure read in the classroom on the mmHg? |
9 | Jamika S. asks: |
Show | My question is that why does everybody has different cosmic ray count. |
8 | Rickey R. asks: |
Show | Is the sun the only place where cosmic rays come from? Does the position of Earth have any effect on how many cosmic rays we receive? |
Dominique, Nechelle, Anthony and Ricky all asked a similar question, which I will answer here. Cosmic rays are particles streaming throughout space, so some of them hit the earth. You have probably noticed by now that you don't count as may cosmic rays if you take your counters into the basement, or to some part of the building where a lot of material is screening them out. That tells you that stuff like metal and concrete absorbs them. Well, the atmosphere and clouds are stuff too, so they absorb some too. On a very cloudy day there is water in the air, which absorbs some of the cosmic rays...but not too much. I am not sure if you can even see the effect. I am waiting for you to tell me when you present your results. The position of the sun and earth can have a small effect too, and a type of cosmic ray comes directly from the sun and is connected to sunspots. Now, about those radio signals. You have reported that the short-wave radio signals from far-away places like australia vary in strength and come and go. This is because of particles in the atmosphere that are reflecting the radio waves causing them to bounce from the transmitter in australia to your receiver in Chicago. When there are more charged ions in the atmosphere, the signal is stronger. The UV light from the sun affects the number of ions, so that is why there is a strong day/night difference. Also, high solar activity (associated with sunspots) causes a lot of cosmic rays to hit the atmosphere and this also changes the number of ions. In fact, sometimes these "solar storms" are so bad they cause problems with regular radio communication and even have caused power outages...but this is very rare.
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