This website requires a browser which supports HTML5.
Some elements of this site will not work correctly until you upgrade your browser.
MuonsandtheSpecialTheoryofRelativity.
Amuonisasubatomicparticlecreatedintheupperatmospherebycosmicrays.Cosmicraysarethoughttocomefromblackholesorthemergingofsupermassivestars.Thesemuonsaremembersoftheleptonfamily.Muonsarecreatedabout15,000metersabovesealevel.Theyhaveadecaytimeofapproximately2millisecondsandtravelatnearthespeedoflight.Moremuonsaredetectedatsealevelthanshouldbe.THEANSWERTOTHISCANBEEXPLAINEDBYTHESPECIALTHEORYOFRELATIVITY.
MuonInfo
MuonsandtheSpecialTheoryofRelativity.
Fromtheframeofreferenceofthemuon.
Ithasalifetimeofapproximately2milliseconds.Itistravellingat0.998cThedistanceittravelsinitsframeofreferenceisfoundby:
Themuonwilltravel598mfromwhereitwascreated.
Show/hideondiagram
MuonsandtheSpecialTheoryofRelativity.
FromtheframeofreferenceoftheEarth
Thelifetimeofthemuonwillbetimedilatedasobservedfromtheearth`sframeofreference.Theframeofreferenceofthemuonisobservedtobemovingat0.998cSothetimethemuounexistscanbefoundfromthetimedilationequation.
Themuonwilltravel9,472mfromwhereitwascreatedrelativetotheEarth’sframeofreferenceBUTitwillstillonlytravel598minitsframeofreference!
Show/hideondiagram