Nuclear & Particle Physics - Muon

Two horizontal scintillation counters are located near the Earth’s surface. One is 3.0 meters directly above the other. Of the following, which is the largest scintillator resolving time that can be used to distinguish downward-going relativistic muons from upward-going relativistic muons using the relative time of the scintillator signals?

A. 1 picosecond
B. 1 nanosecond
C. 1 microsecond
D. 1 millisecond
E. 1 second
(GR9277 #49)
Solution:

Muons can travel with maximum speed near the speed of light:
= 3 × 10m/s

Given s = 3 m,

t = s/v = 3/(3 × 108) = 10−8

Micro = 10−6
Nano = 10−9
Pico = 10−12

10−8 second is close to 1 nanosecond.

Answer: B

No comments :