Presenter: Sota Nakahama
Authors: Sota Nakahama
Faculty Advisor: Theodore Lane
Institution: Southern Utah University
Einstein’s Theory of Special Relativity was an invaluable contribution to modern science, turning the notion of an immutable time on its head. Einstein’s Theory of Special Relativity theorized that as the speed of the object that has mass increases, time dilated. The implications of special relativity have been tested repeatedly and have always shown the theory’s accuracy, but more testing does not hurt. In this work, we revisit the cosmic muon experiment that originally showed the accuracy of special relativity, but at higher altitudes, in order to see a corresponding shift in the number of muons detected. These results are then compared to theory to ensure that special relativity is indeed correct. To conduct this experiment, we are going to build a particle detector by using a scintillator and photomultipliers. This device will allow us to detect muons at the given altitude. The measurement given by the device will allow us to experimentally help show Einstein’s theory’s accuracy.