User:Smirlis
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Ted Smirlis is a teacher at Deer Park high school[1]. He teaches chemistry, honors chemistry and AP chemistry. Ted graduated from Stony Brook university with majors in biochemistry and chemistry. He obtained his masters in Biology and is currently working toward his physics certification as he aspires to teach it. Some of the classes he has taken are PHY 579, PHY580, and PHY585. He is currently taking PHY315 to enable him to gain a unique perspective on cosmic ray research.PHY315
Ted got involved in the mariachi program in 2006 and along with Joe Sundermier they are trying to expand the program. Under the guidance of Dr Helio Takai there are currently 8 Deer Park students working in 3 different cosmic ray research projects. Some of the workshops Ted took this past summer include the mariachi workshop 2007 and Quarknet 2007.
Ted's hobbies are playing guitar, computers and hiking. He also enjoys hanging out with friends and family.
To see some cool demos please visit my eboard and look under pictures [2]
9/11/07
During class we analyzed energy spectrums and identified the energies required to create cosmic ray showers. It was determined that at higher energies there is a larger cosmic ray shower covering a larger range and area. The lecture continued with the a presentation of the Pierre Auger detectors in Argentina. The two types of detectors were examined and analyzed. 1) type I detector indentifies particles that strikes the ground and 2) type II detectors identifies the phosphoresence of the excitation of Nitrogen atoms as cosmic particles collide with them high up in the atmosphere. The reflection of radio waves was then examined from the ionization trail of the cosmic ray showers and methods for identification was discused.
The class then continued with a presentation of different antenna types (ex dipoles) along with detection techniques. Instrumentation and software usage was discussed.
A presentation was then made in calculating the efficiency of detectors. We then used the equipment and obtained data to calculate the efficiency of detector number 703902.
DATA Table: Media:book3.xls
Efficiency Graph
Media:Book1.xls
Reflection Questions
- What causes the lightning to strike despite the insuficient voltage? Is it cosmic ray ionization or some kind of other mechanism.
- What causes the radion wave reflection at the molecular lvel? Is it the stipping off of the electrons or another mechanism
- Does the angle direction of the cosmic ray ionization trail effect the reflection of TV signals and their geometry?
- How to change the efficiency of the detectors? By changing their position and angle.
Topics for study
1) Cosmic ray rate Vs atmosphere transparency (ex smog, humidity, clouds)
2) Velocity of cosmic ray particles
3) Rate Vs direction
4) Classification of cosmic ray particles
5) Interference
9/18/07 In the begining of class we analyzed different efficiency curves from the data students obtained. We identified imporatant characteristics the efficiency curves must have, and how to interpret them. It was determined that we needed the highest possible efficiency (closest to 100%) but a low count rate for reduced noise interference.
It was then determined that we needed to estimate error in our experiment in order to determine the reproductibility of our experiment. Two types of errors were discused: 1) systematic errors (errors in the measurement technique that don't improve unless identified) and 2) random errors (irregular errors that average to zero so we can get improvement with repeated measurement). The data of the efficiency curves were analyzed with respect to the two errors, and the percent error of the experiment was determined.
After the error analysis statistical data were discussed and applied to the efficiency curves. Statistical error was estimated by calculating the square root of the number of counts. For example:
N=9 dN=3 dN/N=1/3 (33%)
N=10000 dN=100 dN/N=1/100(1%)
This analysis shows that the error grows but the relative error (the precision) is improving. This reveals that by calculating the rate (counts per unit time) we can calculate the error bars of the experiment.
The error bars of the experiment were then analysed using the normal (gaussian) distribution. Just like any distribution our error analysis showed that 68% of all measurements fall within the FWHM, 32% of all measurements were beyond the FWHM and only 4.6% was beyond 2x the FWHM.
Since the number of counts was not a physical property we can convert them into a rate (counts per time) and the flux (number of particles that pass through a detector at a given angle) can be analyzed and the error determined.
After applying error analysis to our efficiency curves we abtained the following result:Media:error.xls
9/25/07
During class we devised an experiment to further understand cosmic ray particles. We took Cosmic cris (a scintilator counter) and obtained 3 measurements on each floor starting from the basement. Our hypothesis was that on the fourth floor we will have greater cosmic particle count due to 1) a higher elevation and 2) due to less sheilding from the concrete. The measurements were obtained precisely at the same position next to the elevator in order to minimize any chance for error.
The data we obtained are sumerized in the following table:Media:Cosmic_Cris1.xls
After careful calculations we determined the error bars and applied them into our graph:Media:Cosmic_Cris_error.xls
10/02/07
During class we devised an experiment to measure the rate of cosmic particles coincidences in conjunction with increasing distance between the scintillators. We expected to find that by increasing the distance between the scintilators we would observe a decrease in cosmic particle coincidence between the scintilators as there is less area of space is covered.
After that we conducted another experiment and we measured the distance between 2 scintilator and the difference in pulse time between the 2 scintilators. We hypothesized that by increasing the distance between the 2 counters there will be a greater time delay between the 2 pulses. We obtained measurements at 5 distances 13in, 26in, 52in, 78in, 104in. Based on these premises we can determine 3 things: 1) by separating counters we can determine the time it takes a particle to go from the top to the bottom counter 2) We can measure the energy deposited on the plastic by rotating the scintilator a particle goes through, if it is verticle it goes through more plastic depositing more energy 3) by observing a larger pulse we can infer that a larger particle went through it.
In this experiment we studied the first one: the time it takes for a particle to travel from the top to the bottom scintilator. By obtaining the measurements of time and distance we created a slope on the graph. We then obtained a gentle slope and a steep slope through our error bars and we devided it in half. We then converted to meters per second and obtained a value of 2.8 x 10^8 which is very close to the speed of light.
Our data to support this are the following:Media:Copy_of_Distance_change_in_detectors.xls
Refined Data with X error bars
10/9/07
During class we worked on identifying our distance error and placing horizontal error bars on our graph. It was identidied that particles may not have passed straight down vertically in a 90 degree angle from detector to detector, but may have passed through a variety of angles from the top to the bottom detector. So we calculated the minimum and maximum angles by measuring the distance from the the left of the top detector to the right of the bottom detector. This gave us the maximum distance that cosmic ray particles may have passed through the detectors. We then did the same with the other side. The distance was measured by using the pythagorian theorem since we knew the distance of detector seperation and we knew the dimensions of both detector panels. The minimum and maximum distance was determined by calculating the hypotenuse using the following formula R^2 = a^2 + b^2. The first observation we made was that as the detectors moved further apart the longest possible distance a cosmic ray could travel got closer to the shortest possible path due to the geometry of the detector placement. When the error bars were placed on the graph they revealed that our error was greater than previously thought. The next course of action to be taken by our team is to take different lenghts of wire and determine the speed of the cosmic particle as the signal travels through the wire. This will give us less error because now we are fixing the distance, so there won't be any error on on the x axis.
Media:Pulse_time_vs_dist_revised.xls
Media:Distance_calculations.doc
10/16/07
During todays class we calculated the speed the pulse travels through the coaxial wire. We put the detectors at zero distance away from each other and we connected them to the osciloscope using different length wires. The length of the wires used were 15 1/8inches, 39 inches, 48 inches, 62 inches, 68 inches, and 121 inches. The pulse time difference was visualized a lateral shift between the 2 pulse signals on the osciloscope. What was immediately noticed was that as the signal cable increased so did the time delay difference between the two pulses. Three measurements were taken and the average calculated. From this data we calculated the speed of the signal through the cable wire and determined it to be 1.921x10^8 which 65% the speed of light. This is a very clode to the manufacturers specifications which is 65.9% the speed of light.[3]
The data we obtained are the following: Media:Cosmic ray velocity 10-16.xls
Data steps 10-23-07 Determining error of velocity calculation
1. Took 40 readings with same length cables
2. Put data into excel
3. Broke data into 1 second bins
4. Placed onto histogram
5. Determined average of the time in ns (all 40 counts)
6. Determined the standard deviation
10/30/07
During class we discussed how to determine the acuracy of our results and error. The statistical analysis that we will use to determine our error calculations is chi squared. chi (X) squared employes an equation to analyse the error. The equation used is X2 = (r1 − a / s1)2 + (r2 − a / s2)2 + ......(rn − a / sn)2.
In an effort to utilize X2 we must first calculate our mean. To calculate the mean we obtained over 571 time delay measurements and ploted those masurements in a histogram. The data were obtained by using a program created by prof. Vavilov and it broke down the data into the following categories: date, time, pulse height 1 & 2, width 1 &2 and arrival time 1 &2. The data we used were same signal because if the pulse height and width didn't match we excluded the data.
The histogram was created by plotting the difference in arrival time and frequency of incident. The time bins used ranged from values -9ns to 31ns. From the bell shaped curve that was formed we obtained the 68% mark by taking the height of the histogram and dividing it by two. This was the width of the bell curve (from the edge of the bell curve to the middle line).
11/06/07
During class presentations today we came up with a clear plan for cosmic particle study. So far we have determined the velocity of cosmic particles and now we will put this knowledge and evaluate a useful application. The next direction of study our group will undertake will be to determine if cosmic particles can be used as X-RAYs and create a 3D image of the interior of a building.
11/13/07 (MAKE UP CLASS)
In this session we will attempt to finalize our error and obtain the most correct graph for our speed data.
We will begin by first calculating sigma. Sigma is calculated by obtaining the width of the bell curve at half point. Sigma then is w=1.5*sigma. The width was then calculated to be 1.9 so sigma was 1.27.
After sigma was calculated we now had all the data to calculate Chi squared. The equation used is X2 = (r1 − a / s1)2 + (r2 − a / s2)2 + ......(rn − a / sn)2.
a= average
r1 = Rate at point 1
s = How many errors it is from the line
After we calculated sigma we created the following graph with the corrected error bars:
Several lines were then created having the same sigma values and the following chart was obtained
X2 values were then calculated as shown bellow
y=0.16x + 5.600 x2 = 0.987
y=0.140x + 6.0 X2 = 0.985
y=0.153x + 5.00 X2 = 0.983
y=0.127x + 7.00 X2 = 0.964
From this data we were able to to construct a graph of X2 versus slope:
From this data we can see that the best line for our study is y=0.127x + 7.00 with a X2 value of 0.964.
Using the slope of 0.127 we then calculated the speed of signal propagation through the wire to be exactly 2.0 * 108 which is 67% the speed of light which is closer to the manufacturers specifications of 65.9%. This method allowed us to pinpoint the velocity a lot closer to the true value.
Two points of improvement for this study would be 1) to take more slopes and more chi squared values to have a more complete graph to further pinpoint the minimum and 2) to apply the same techniques for the speed of cosmic particles calculation to pinpoint their exact velocity.
11/27/07
During todays class we discussed the various cosmic particles and the particle accelerators in use. The following table summarizes the particles with their associated energies:
Positron 0.5 Mev
Miouon 105 Mev
Pion 140 Mev
The cosmotron was the first particle accelerator to be used and the Bevetron at Berkley was used to create antiparticles.< To run accelerators you need the following 4 things:
1) Source - produces charged particles to accelerate for example e-, e+, p, p-, or H-nuclei.
2) Accelerate - voltage ( you have 2 types static and variant radiofrequency). The Van Der graph uses 9 Mev to accelerate particles whereas fermilab uses 1Tev.
3) guides - magnetic field to focus it.
4 and a vaccum.
Our experimental portion of todays class included our attempt to create a 3 dimensional x-ray image image of the library atrium. Our hypothesis was that as cosmic particles went through different material in the library the number of cosmic particles would be altered accordingly. By obtaining the number of cosmic particles we could then create a 3-D image of the library atrium. The number of cosmic particles would be obtained by using a portable detectror (Cosmic Chris). We began todays protion of the experiment by obtaining cosmic ray numbers from outside the library. We started taking measurements from the enterance to the library (which is surounded by a roof and 3 walls) and moved out toward the courtyard. We obtained measurements every 10 feet each measurement was obtained for 60 seconds. The results revealed that as we moved away from the the library the count of comic ray particles increased by 28%. Next week we will obtain measurements in the atrium of the library.
12/07/07
During class today we explored the techniques on how to detect muon half life. Muons are unstable particles that decay in 1.5 microseconds. The detectors are arranged in such a way so that 2 detectors are separated from the another using some material (plywood for example) and all 3 detectros are connected to an oscilloscope. The mojority of the particles will pass through and very little time delay will be noticed from the oscillocope. Every now and then however we will observe a delay in the pulse propagation that is because the muon has spent some time decaying to an electron and passing through either the upper detectors or lower detectors.
Our experimental portion of the class included our continuation of last weeks experiment to obtain a detailed 3 dimensional xray of the library atrium. Last week abtained data form the library cove going outside. This week we obtained measurements from inside the library (under the atrium) moving toward the outside. We obtained measuremnts at 5 different equidistant spaces inside the library. In each location we obtained 3 measurements for 60 seconds and got their average. This revealed a complex graph that corresponded to the complex structure of the library.
Results: At position 1 the incidence of cosmic rays is low because of increased shielding from the roof and 2 sides of the wall. As you move out to position 2 and 3 the number of cosmic particles increases dramatically because we were directly under the attrium with no roof over our heads obstructing cosmic rays. At position 4 the number of comic particles decreases dramatically as we moved under the staircase (due to increased shielding) and was even lower at position 5 as the dense solid roof apeared again.
By combining the atrium data with the cove and the ouside data we get a complete picture that corresponds exctly to the physical topography of the library, which thereby confirms our hypothesis.
complete atrium and outdoor data
Background Information
The idea of using cosmic particles to X-RAY building interiors was first conceived by louis Alvarez. In the 1970's he created images using muon absorption to map the interior of the Second Pyramid at Giza[4]. This has tremendous implications for national security as cosmic particles can be used to X-RAY containers comming into our ports. My reasearch has revealed that no one has examined the scattering data to determine how this can be done. Further research must be conducted to determine how to use cosmic particles as X-RAYs.
Recommendations for further study:
1) create a complete absorption study of the interior of the library and create a complete detailed 3-D image map of the library.
2) study the effects of particle absorption as they pass through different materials and different densities. This will enable to researchers to identify not only the material cosmic rays pass through but also their thickness.
12/11/07
