This week's CR4 Challenge Question:
John and Tom were fishing when John related how he had
recently read that Muons had a lifetime of only 2.2 microseconds and 10,000 Muons
per square meter per minute hit the Earths surface. The Muons are created when high energy
protons collide with molecules 100 km up in the atmosphere. Tom did some quick math in his head and said
"If the Muons traveled at the speed of light, they could only travel about 650
meters before decaying, how do they make it the 100 km to the Earth's
surface?" What was John's answer?
(Update: May 20, 8:57 AM EST) And the Answer is...
John explains that the Muons are traveling near the speed of
light and therefore experience time dilation, which allows them to travel the
100 km to the Earth's surface.
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