10 September 2004

Wanderings
Number 81

Ralph J. Coppola

r_j_coppola@hotmail.com

SAS Disclaimer

Come join us on the Wanderings Chat Room. --- (See info and instructions)

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Feature

Don't forget to make your plans to join the Ocean Conservancy's 19th annual International Coastal Cleanup on Saturday, 18 September 2004.

The Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup will span the 9 days from Saturday 11 September to Sunday19 September.

The following is a collection of DIY sites that can serve as an introduction into the investigation of cosmic rays.

• A University of Utah's ASPIRE Project for Grades 7 - 12: In Search of Cosmic Rays: Investigations into the Origin of Cosmic Rays.
• Cosmic Rays from NASA's Cosmic and Heliospheric Learning Center.
• James A. Petrait's Monitoring Muons On The Surface Of The Earth using detectors from Aware Electronics.
• QuarkNetter report on the Aware Geiger Detector
• Various amateur projects related to cosmic rays and air showers.
• Washington Large Area Time Coincidence Array (WALTA) is a project to investigate the highest energy cosmic rays with the participation of middle and high school students and teachers throughout the Seattle area. Also, see their links Cosmic Rays resources on the Internet.
• The Berkeley Lab Cosmic Ray Telescope Project
• Techlib.com has an excellent page on DIY ion chambers.
• A real time on-line cosmic ray site from Russia with links to related Internet sites.
• Counting Particles from Space --- "The Amateur Scientist," February 2001.

Wanderings

The Spark, Bang, Buzz and Other Good Stuff site contains a collection of interesting DIY experiments and projects. I wouldn't advise attempting the projects that use propane. They are best left to Hank Hill and other propane and propane accessories sales people 8-)

The Fat Quarters Software & Electronics web site is offering, among its collection of the application notes, a DIY article on the construction of a High Sensitivity Gradiometer to detect magnetic anomalies.

SID-GRB@home is a DIY site that shows how to build a simple VLF receiver that can detect Sudden Ionospheric Disturbances (SID) that are caused by x-rays from the sun (solar flares) and by x-rays from Gamma Ray Bursts (GRB) from the edges of the universe.

How to Build an Inexpensive Seismometer describes how you can build an inexpensive PC based instrument.

Professor Tomonao Hayashi and his students at the Chiba Institute of Technology, Japan, developed and launched a Whale Ecology Observation Satellite.

The Kids Room

The New Mexico Solar Energy Association's web site offers a wide selection of solar energy projects and educational resources for all ages. The Pizza Box Solar Oven is especially suited to grades 3 to 6.