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Teaching Modern Physics - QuarkNet - Fermilab

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6. Cerenkov light is a form of light emitted when a charged particle travels in a transparent<br />

medium faster than light travels in the same medium. An imaginative experiment called<br />

ICE-CUBE plans to use a cubic kilometer of ice (which becomes clear at great depths) in<br />

Antarctica to detect charged particles from outer space called muons. Calculate the<br />

minimum velocity a muon must have to emit Cerenkov light in the ICE-CUBE<br />

experiment.<br />

This is a simple problem. Use n = c/v. The index of refraction of ice is 1.31.<br />

So v = 2.29 × 10 8 m/s.<br />

54

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