The Muons Are in da House

We are told by scientists that there is no such thing as empty air. The room in which you are sitting is filled with tiny particles such as light, water vapour, oxygen, pollution, pollen, and much more from the surrounding environment. They say that there is also an array of particles that is constantly bathing the planet and passing through our bodies in an invisible stream that averages 10-20,000 muons per minute.

I remember downloading an app some time ago that allowed me to point the camera at the sky and visualize the stream of particles that were constantly bombarding the room and passing through me like tiny unseen ghosts. That was cool but a bit unsettling. I don’t know about you, but I don’t feel too comfortable with the idea that I’m being zapped by cosmic rays every single minute of my life, but who am I to argue with scientists?

Long ago, they used cloud chambers to capture the vapour trails of these invisible particles. I found the one shown in this image at Science World. Notice how the top is covered in white streaks; they show the clear chamber, likely filled with a mix of alcohol, air, and other gases to create a mist of supersaturated particles. When charged particles from the surrounding environment and outer space enter the chamber, they leave a white ionized track of condensed alcohol that is clearly visible.

Muons are created in the atmosphere when flashy cosmic rays smash local airy particles, and they are characterized by long straight paths in the misty chamber. If the path is wiggly or curly then bouncy particles like electrons and protons are the cause. Thick, short, and dense tracks indicate that heavy alpha particles have entered the cloud chamber in a posse.

Scientific instruments that detect these energetic particles are now more sophisticated, but I like the conceptual simplicity of the cloud chamber because it creates a more personal and interactive experience that can be easily grasped by my hopelessly non-linear ABC neural processor (aka brain).

Thank you for visiting the cloud chamber, and may the rays be with you.