Cosmics for High School Teachers

The following is intended for an audience of High school teachers and their students.

What is a Cosmic Ray

Cosmic rays are particles originating outside the earth which hit the Eartch's atmosphere. 90% of the particles are protons. 9% are alpha particles (a helium atom without its electrons). 1% are electrons.

Solar and Galactic

Solar cosmic rays originate from the sun and have energies between 10 to 100 kilo-electron volts (keV = 1.6 e-16 Joules = amount of heat your body produces in 1e-18 seconds [1/1000 femto-seconds]). Galactic cosmic rays are in two categories; either galactic or extragalactic. Galactic Extragalactic cosmic rays flow into our galaxy having energies beyond 10e15 eV (amount of energy your body creates in 1/1000 of a second). They are very rare with only 1 entering a square meter on the earth's surface per year.