Cosmic Chris

From MariachiWiki

1 Introduction

Introduction

How many cosmic rays go through our bodies every minute? Actually some number like 500. Cosmic Chris, created by Tara Newman, detects and display this on a counter. The "heart" of Cosmic Chris is a thick plastic scintillator that is sensitive to charged particles produced in the earth's atmosphere when cosmic rays from outer space interact. They are however harmless, and have been showering on us for billions of years.

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Who is Cosmic Chris?

"Cosmic Chris" was created in ?Year by Tara Newman from Hauppauge High School in Long Island, New York. His internal organs include: two scintillator paddles and an electronic counter to display how many particles pass through his body. He stands approxmiately 5 feet tall and wieghs about 150 pounds.

Recently, Chris has adopted his new pet "Cosmo" the "Cosmic Retriever." It is hoped that the horizontal orientation of the dog's body will capture more hits from particles.

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So Am I Being Hit By Cosmic Rays Right Now?

Yes. The shower of particles initiated by cosmic rays is constantly emitting particles down to the ground. They will pass through anything in their path to get to the ground, including you.

Please be advised, there is no need to panic. The cells in the human body have evolved to repair again such low radiation emissions. It is an amazing defense mechanism built right into our immune system. This is why you will not feel pain when you are hit by showering particles. Thus, they pass through your body unnoticed.

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What If I Am Inside?

It turns out, as explained above, that these particles will pass through anything in their path with little resistence. Standing indoors will slightly reduce the particle count when compared to standing outside. Severl experiments were conducted with Cosmic Chris. He stood on the 3rd floor of a building and in the basement. It was proven that he did recieve more particles when he was on the upper floor, but the difference in counts was minimal.

Join the Cosmic Chris Club! Click here Chris Club!

Back to High School Experiments

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