Summer Workshop 2020
July 12, 2020 - July 14, 2020
The UIC summer workshop (July 12-14, 2020) was attended by three teachers and two students. Due to the Covid-19 crisis, the workshop was held completely remotely. Participants were able to perform an analyses on the speed of muons and explored the Shower analysis to measure the rate of multple muons in cosmic ray air showers with detector separation distinces spanning from 1m to 66m. Teachers had the opportunity to discuss their approaches to remote learning and decided to move several QuarkNet detectors to homes so experiments could continue even though schools remain inccessible.
Students and teachers from the 2017 QuarkNet Eclipse project submitted an article on their cosmic ray measurement to The Physics Teacher. Substantial reanalysis was performed by a small group of students over several months, including some students now attending universities. The article has been accepted pending responses to reviewer comments.
Several teachers moved their detectors from their schools to their homes so that they could continue to collect data. Additional components we required so that the GPS systems could be left in place in the ceilings of their schools. Unterman and Adams have been collecting standard data sets to serve for cosmic ray analyses in e-Lab for QuarkNet groups who don’t have a detector or current accesses to their detector. One detector in a public space near teacher Unterman’s home experienced a direct hit by a tornado on August 10th. Another detector in his home 100m away from the tornado lost power. Several students plan to search for any changes in muon rates in that data set during the next academic year.