How Angle Affects Muon Flux

Pranathi Locula(Troy High School) and Sadia Farha(Frontier International Academy)

Teacher Mentor: Mike Niedballa(Michigan Collegiate High School)

Research Mentor: Rob Harr (Wayne State University)

The purpose of our research is to determine the effect of changing the angle of the cosmic ray detectors on muon flux. By changing the angle at which the detectors are pointed, we are changing the amount of atmosphere that the muons have to pass through and the direction that the muons have to travel in in order to hit the detector. Thus, our hypothesis is that as we increase the angle from horizontal the muon flux will increase. To change the angle at which the detectors are held, we used a wooden telescope with racks to place the detectors in. We secured the telescope at a different angle for each study and then analyzed our data. After completing our research, we found that as the angle  increased, the amount of muon flux also increased. We concluded that this is because at a lower angle, the muons have to pass through more atmosphere, making it harder for them to reach the detector, resulting in less flux. At a higher angle, the muons have to pass through less of the atmosphere to reach the detectors, resulting in more flux.