User:Kml300
From MariachiWiki
Bio
My name is Kimberly Wong. I was born on February 15th, 1988. I went to Benjamin N. Cardozo high school and currently, I’m a freshmen at Stony Brook majoring in health science. I'm planning on being pre-med and either going into pediatrics or oncology. I have never worked in a research lab before in high school but since I am currently being introduced to how research works and the ethics of research, it's been a big eye opener for me. I dorm here at Stony Brook but I go home every week. During my free time, I enjoy watching anime and Chinese dramas. I like to hang out with friends and eat. My favorite food is frogs and most people find that quite unusual. In Stony Brook, I like to eat at Bleachers in the afternoon since they have a wider variety of food every week. Some things I don’t like is when I’m told 2 days before that I have a project due, or when people bail out of things last minute. My goal in life is the same as everybody else’s, which is to be successful in life.
A link that will help describe me is my Facebook.
Journal
Feb. 22nd, 2007
We were first given a survey which asked us a bunch of questions that I didn't know the answer to. Then we were given a lecture which explained what cosmic rays are. Afterwards, we were introduced to Cosmic Chris and various equipment such as the scintillator detector, pulse counter, and the discriminator. Before class ended, we looked at a cloud chamber which showed paths caused by cosmic rays.
Feb. 27th, 2007
It is apparent that as time increases the amount of cosmic ray counts increases. They are directly proportional to each other. As voltage increases the number of cosmic ray counts increase exponentially.
After doing some hands on work connecting wires and figuring out which head can be placed on which wire, I've basically learned where to connect the wires in order to count the number of cosmic rays collected by the scintillators. It was a bit confusing at first until Professor Marx drew a diagram which helped me determine where to connect the wires. So far, nothing is giving me any trouble besides the fact that I was unsure how to graph the data. But, I think I managed it okay. What I would like to know is how can counting the amount of cosmic rays aid in outside applications. Overall, I think I learned a lot on connecting wires. Even though it may sound easy, it took a while to figure out the position for each wire. I had an enjoyable time.
March 1st, 2007
Instead of collecting data manually by writing down numbers onto a piece of paper, we had the computer keep track of all the numbers. We used Excel to graph rate versus trial for 5 trials of 10 second intervals and 60 second intervals. Strangely enough, the graph for 60 seconds did not appear to show a better straight line than the 10 second graph. Afterwards, we plugged in all three scintillators and detected the efficiency of the scintillators for the range of voltage between 5.5 volts to 6.0 volts. The results are shown on the left. It seems that there is a parabolic trend. The efficiency of the scintillators are best at the voltage of 5.7 volts according to the data collected.
March 6th, 2007
We did some brainstorming today and came up with lots of ideas for research. The two experiments Michele and I decided to do was to see "Where do the majority of cosmic rays come from? above? side? etc." and to see whether time has anything to do with the amount of cosmic rays.
Our plan for testing to see whether time has anything to do with the amount of cosmic rays is by setting up 4 scintillators next to each other on a table (probably at the table where we usually put our bags). We will then take data over 2 minute intervals of 3 trials once at 9AM (morning) 12PM(afternoon) and 9PM(night) for 2 days. We will then take the average counts of cosmic rays and plot a graph of rate versus time. The picture below shows roughly where the scintillators will be placed.
In order to find where cosmic rays come from, we plan to find the number of counts when the scintillators are placed at an angle of 45, 90, and 180 degrees. We will do 3 trials at 2 minute intervals for each position.
A question that I have is do the scintillators detect cosmic rays from both sides or only one?
March 8th, 2007
Today we started on our research. We tried to determine in which direction do cosmic rays come from by rotating the octagonal stool and by taking data with the computer. Dima taught us how to find the accuracy of our results. The equation is the square root of the number of counts divided by the number of counts times the rate. The data recorded can be found here at Data From Determining Which Direction Cosmic Rays Come From. With the data collected, we are still unsure as to whether cosmic rays come from above or below, so in the next session we will probably try to figure that out by placing collectors onto a lift which raises them up to the ceiling and placing collectors on the ground.
March 13th, 2007
I'm not really sure what we accomplished today. We hooked up two scintillators to the oscilloscope and watched for their pulses. Then we raised one scintillator up to the ceiling. No change in the pulses were seen. I'm confused as to how we can see whether cosmic rays come from above or below by watching the pulses. On the other hand, I've started recording cosmic ray counts over different times of the day.
March 15th, 2007
Updates were made to Data From Determining Which Direction Cosmic Rays Come From. It now contains the data taken today and basically what we did. On the other hand, I've gathered data on my other experiment of the number of cosmic rays vs. time. Two scintillators were stacked on top of each other and the counts of cosmic rays were taken at times of 9 AM and 9 PM for 2 minute intervals in 5 trials. The average coincidences were calculated for the two different times and this is what we got.
There was only a difference of approximately 43 comsic ray counts between day and night. With the accuracys calculated, it seems safe to say that there are a greater amount of cosmic rays at night, even though the increase is not as significant. However when I put up more data tomorrow for the counts of 12 PM, we will be able to better determine whether cosmic ray counts have such a great correlation to the time of day.
March 20th 2007
Today was our last day and we presented our research and findings. I really liked the course a lot since we got to do a lot of the hands on work. Another thing that I liked is that I learned a little of html since we are required to write daily journals. What made the course fun was that we thought up of our own research ideas and decided on how to go about pursuing this research while Professor Marx and Dima guided us. What could have been better is that it would have been less intimidating if there wasn't always someone watching us when we worked out the experiments or brainstormed ideas (no offense). Though with Dima and Professor Marx being there, it really helped us out with questions we had and they let us know ahead of time if we were doing something wrong or if something wouldn't work out. Overall I had an enjoyable eight sessions.
