Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from August, 2015

Abdulla Al Ghurair pledges one third of his assets to launch Abdulla Al Ghurair Education Foundation

  Initial budget of AED4.2 billion over the next 10 years One of the largest privately funded philanthropic education initiatives in the Arab world, devoted to equipping Arab youth with the knowledge and skills they need to fulfill their promise as the future leaders of the region Initiative to benefit more than 15,000 university gifted students from less privileged backgrounds in the UAE and Arab world Foundation to support programs aimed at increasing innovation and rewarding excellence in education Reflecting his commitment, dedication and on the occasion of UAE Humanitarian Work Day 2015, one of the UAE’s most respected business figures donated one third of his assets to equipping Arab youth with the knowledge and skills they need to become the leaders of tomorrow and drive the sustainable development of their communities. The Foundation will invest in innovative high impact programs that improve the quality of education at the primary and secondary levels while also help

A cosmic ray cascade in the Earth’s atmosphere

As the incident cosmic ray particle collides with an atom or a molecule of the air, it produces lots of secondary particles. If it is a heavy ion, it will be broken into lighter nuclei, protons, or neutrons. All these particles continue to move downward and can again react with other air molecules, if they have enough energy. This generates a  cosmic ray cascade . The deeper the particles penetrate into the atmosphere, the more energy they lose. The primary cosmic ray must have a minimum energy of about 450 MeV to produce a significant number of secondaries that can reach sea level. One has to go to high mountains or use air planes, balloons or spacecraft to detect traces of primary cosmic rays of lower energies. A typical cosmic ray cascade is shown in the Figure. The schematic drawing of the cascade is from Simpson et al. (1953, Phys. Review 90, 934). Let us have a look on the individual reactions from the first impact to the arrival of the disintegration products at the ground