In these exercises, students will study events in which a muon coming to rest inside the MINERvA detector subsequently undergoes a radioactive decay in mere microseconds.
Students learn how to identify radioactive decay events and get a feel for the random nature of the decay process. Later, a more quantitative analysis can measure the half-life of the muon. Students also examine the energies of the electrons to gain insight into the decay mechanism.
The sample event above shows a muon beta decay. The second "time slice" in this event contains a muon skidding to a halt in the material of the MINERvA detector. The third time slice reveals a 35 Mega-electron-Volt electron emmitted by the muon when it decays radioactively 2.45 microseconds after it stopped in the detector.
This exercise provides a library of these decay events for your students to analyze.
| Group A | Group K |
| Group B | Group L |
| Group C | Group M |
| Group D | Group N |
| Group E | Group O |
| Group F | Group P |
| Group G | Group Q |
| Group H | Group R |
| Group I | Group S |
| Group J | Group T |
Activities and Resources