MONITORING COSMIC RAYS CALTECH RESEARCHERS INSTALL DETECTORS AT MIDDLE SCHOOL.Byline: Lisa M. Sodders Staff Writer Astrophysicists from the California Institute of Technology California Institute of Technology, at Pasadena, Calif.; originally for men, became coeducational in 1970; founded 1891 as Throop Polytechnic Institute; called Throop College of Technology, 1913–20. enlisted help from San Fernando Middle School students Wednesday in the tracking of cosmic rays cosmic rays, charged particles moving at nearly the speed of light reaching the earth from outer space. Primary cosmic rays consist mostly of protons (nuclei of hydrogen atoms), some alpha particles (helium nuclei), and lesser amounts of nuclei of carbon, nitrogen, - an ambitious quest to further unravel mysteries of the universe. At a morning ceremony, students, physicists, teachers and Los Angeles Unified School District The Los Angeles Unified School District (the "LAUSD") is the largest (in terms of number of students) public school system in California and the second-largest in the United States. Only the New York City Department of Education has a larger student population. officials watched a crane lift a pair of 250-pound, funnel-shaped cosmic ray detectors onto the roof of the school's science building. Moments later, computers inside the building began recording data on subatomic particles as they collided with the earth's atmosphere. ``I think it's really exciting,'' said 13-year-old Romina Huerta, an aspiring physicist, as she watched data fill a graph on a computer monitor. ``We're really lucky to have this at our school.'' Data collected at the school will be transmitted to Caltech, a leading center for scientific and technological research in Pasadena, for further study. Students also will be able to graph various types of cosmic rays and access the data at school and at home, officials said. ``They'll have the opportunity to experience a real-life application of math and science,'' said Arturo Del Rio, principal of the 2,200-student school. Cosmic rays are made up of high-energy, subatomic particles that constantly bombard bom·bard tr.v. bom·bard·ed, bom·bard·ing, bom·bards 1. To attack with bombs, shells, or missiles. 2. To assail persistently, as with requests. See Synonyms at attack, barrage2. 3. the Earth. Astrophysicists don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. where the particles come from but believe they are atomic nuclei accelerated by violent magnetic activity somewhere beyond our galaxy. The purpose of the effort is to find the source of the cosmic rays. This will help scientists better understand how the universe functions. They also want to know how the particles got through the microwaves that followed the Big Bang big bang Model of the origin of the universe, which holds that it emerged from a state of extremely high temperature and density in an explosive expansion 10 billion–15 billion years ago. billions of years ago. According to known laws of physics, the microwaves should have trapped the particles. Cosmic ray detectors have been installed at 49 other sites throughout Southern California as part of the California High School California High School (commonly referred to as Cal High) is a public school located in San Ramon, California, a suburb of San Francisco, Oakland, and Silicon Valley. Its mascot is a Grizzly Bear. The school's newspaper is The Californian which is published monthly. Cosmic Ray Observatory (CHICOS), a collaborative effort of Caltech; California State University, Northridge CSUN offers a variety of programs leading to bachelor's degrees in 61 fields and master's degrees in 42 fields. The university has over 150,000 alumni. It's also home to a summer musical theater/theater program known as TADW (TeenAge Drama Workshop) that leads teenagers through an ; the University of California The University of California has a combined student body of more than 191,000 students, over 1,340,000 living alumni, and a combined systemwide and campus endowment of just over $7.3 billion (8th largest in the United States). , Irvine; and public and private schools in Los Angeles and the San Gabriel Valley The San Gabriel Valley is one of the principal valleys of southern California. It lies to the east of the city of Los Angeles, to the north of the Puente Hills, to the south of the San Gabriel Mountains, and to the west of the Inland Empire. . Scientists began installing the detectors in 2001 and plan to have 90 detectors by 2004. ``Experimental physics is usually done in the basement or behind the locked gates of a governmental laboratory, or in a desert or in a deep mine,'' said Caltech physics professor Bob McKeown, who created the project. ``Our philosophy with CHICOS is to site the experiment in the L.A. schools and bring the frontier of high-energy particle astrophysics to the science classroom,'' he said. Caltech is particularly interested in rare, high-energy particles that might occur ``one per kilometer, once a century,'' McKeown said. These particles are charged with more than a hundred million times more energy than scientists can create with particle accelerators on earth. With enough data, scientists may be able to get a better fix on where the particles come from. Lisa M. Sodders, (818) 713-3663 lisa.sodders(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1) San Fernando Middle School students watch Caltech researchers install cosmic ray detectors Wednesday at their school. The grid of 50 school installations helps determine the direction of cosmic rays entering earth's atmosphere. (2) Robert Carr, left, and Chris Jillings, both of Caltech, install the second cosmic ray detector on the roof of San Fernando Middle School's science building. Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer |
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