When radioactive elements decay they emit high-speed particles. These can be detected by use of a cloud chamber. The cloud chamber was invented by Charles Thomson Rees Wilson in 1911. The chamber works by saturating the air inside with alcohol vapor. Cooling the chamber with dry ice supersaturates the air. The energetic particles produced by the radioactive decay ionize
This is a suite of labs created by Michigan State University and the Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics (JINA). It provides a number of lessons and activities in nuclear physics. It can be used to demonstrate the types of reactions typical in cosmic ray interactions and the interactions that the CosRay neutron monitors depend on.
The Energetic Ray Global Observatory (ERGO) is a program that will provide students and teachers with a small detector that is capable of detecting the cosmic rays in a manner very similar to CosRAY and IceCube. The unit is small and will allow data to be exported automatically to Google Maps.
Plans for the Berkeley National Laboratory cosmic ray detector. This detector can be built by high school teachers and can be used to study cosmic rays in a method similar to the antarctic particle studies (CosRAY and IceCube).
This National Science Foundation Press Release details how PolarTREC teacher Paula Dell's students designed and built their own underwater camera rig to observe and record Antarctic Fish. Their device was successfully deployed this year in the waters off Antarctica.
PolarTREC teacher Paula Dell accompanied researcher Kristin O’Brien’s team to Palmer Station in Antarctica for two
months in 2011 to conduct research on antarctic fishes. This article describes their expedition, their evolving collaboration and includes interviews with both Paula Dell and PolarTREC project manager, Janet Warburton.