Chapter 16 - Cosmic Radiation

Abstract

This chapter analyzes various aspects of cosmic radiation, including the classification and properties of cosmic radiation, the composition of cosmic radiation of galactic origin incident on the top of the atmosphere (TOA), the flux distributions of the major components of primary cosmic radiation, the spectrum of cosmic rays greater than 100MeV, the showers of cosmic radiation, relativistic calculations of time dilation for a muon traveling toward Earth in the cosmic-ray showers as measured by an observer on Earth, cosmic rays underground, and the origins of cosmic rays. The chapter includes a review of cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR) and the Big Bang theory. A final section of this chapter includes a discussion of the radiation dose from cosmic radiation and from other sources.