Detail Page

Item Picture
written by Tevian Dray
published by the Paradigms in Physics Program
This small group activity is designed to help upper division undergraduate students work out the lifetime of cosmic rays taking relativistic effects into account. Students work in small groups and use hyperbolic trigonometry and spacetime diagrams to calculate the lifetime of incoming cosmic rays. The entire class wrap-up discussion summarizes group findings and difficulties, helping students gain a geometric perspective of time dilation and length contraction.

This material is part of the Paradigms in Physics project at Oregon State University. This work promotes the use of active student learning in upper division physics courses. Both learning materials and learning strategies are provided to help both students and instructors.
Subjects Levels Resource Types
Relativity
- Special Relativity
= Relativistic Kinematics
= Space Contraction
= Time Dilation
- Upper Undergraduate
- Instructional Material
= Activity
= Instructor Guide/Manual
Intended Users Formats Ratings
- Educators
- text/html
- application/pdf
- application/tex
  • Currently 0.0/5

Want to rate this material?
Login here!


Access Rights:
Free access
License:
This material is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 license.
Rights Holder:
Paradigms in Physics Team
Merlot:
pending
NSF Numbers:
9653250
0231194
0618877
1023120
Paradigm ID:
rfcosmic
Keywords:
Small Group Activity, Space Contraction, Time Dilation, rfcosmichand.pdf
Record Creator:
Metadata instance created June 22, 2015 by Lyle Barbato
Record Updated:
August 19, 2020 by Lyle Barbato
Last Update
when Cataloged:
August 23, 2013
Other Collections:

ComPADRE is beta testing Citation Styles!

Record Link
AIP Format
T. Dray, (Paradigms in Physics Program, Corvallis, 2008), WWW Document, (http://sites.science.oregonstate.edu/portfolioswiki/activities_guides_rfcosmic.html).
AJP/PRST-PER
T. Dray, Paradigms in Physics: Cosmic Rays (Paradigms in Physics Program, Corvallis, 2008), <http://sites.science.oregonstate.edu/portfolioswiki/activities_guides_rfcosmic.html>.
APA Format
Dray, T. (2013, August 23). Paradigms in Physics: Cosmic Rays. Retrieved March 28, 2024, from Paradigms in Physics Program: http://sites.science.oregonstate.edu/portfolioswiki/activities_guides_rfcosmic.html
Chicago Format
Dray, Tevian. Paradigms in Physics: Cosmic Rays. Corvallis: Paradigms in Physics Program, August 23, 2013. http://sites.science.oregonstate.edu/portfolioswiki/activities_guides_rfcosmic.html (accessed 28 March 2024).
MLA Format
Dray, Tevian. Paradigms in Physics: Cosmic Rays. Corvallis: Paradigms in Physics Program, 2008. 23 Aug. 2013. 28 Mar. 2024 <http://sites.science.oregonstate.edu/portfolioswiki/activities_guides_rfcosmic.html>.
BibTeX Export Format
@misc{ Author = "Tevian Dray", Title = {Paradigms in Physics: Cosmic Rays}, Publisher = {Paradigms in Physics Program}, Volume = {2024}, Number = {28 March 2024}, Month = {August 23, 2013}, Year = {2008} }
Refer Export Format

%A Tevian Dray %T Paradigms in Physics: Cosmic Rays %D August 23, 2013 %I Paradigms in Physics Program %C Corvallis %U http://sites.science.oregonstate.edu/portfolioswiki/activities_guides_rfcosmic.html %O text/html

EndNote Export Format

%0 Electronic Source %A Dray, Tevian %D August 23, 2013 %T Paradigms in Physics: Cosmic Rays %I Paradigms in Physics Program %V 2024 %N 28 March 2024 %8 August 23, 2013 %9 text/html %U http://sites.science.oregonstate.edu/portfolioswiki/activities_guides_rfcosmic.html


Disclaimer: ComPADRE offers citation styles as a guide only. We cannot offer interpretations about citations as this is an automated procedure. Please refer to the style manuals in the Citation Source Information area for clarifications.

Citation Source Information

The AIP Style presented is based on information from the AIP Style Manual.

The APA Style presented is based on information from APA Style.org: Electronic References.

The Chicago Style presented is based on information from Examples of Chicago-Style Documentation.

The MLA Style presented is based on information from the MLA FAQ.

Save to my folders

Contribute

Similar Materials