Muons are tiny particles with very short half-lives, created in the upper atmosphere and zooming towards earth. Given their lifespan and the distance to earth, they should decay before they reach.
But that doesn't happen. From our perspective, muons are traveling so fast that time slows down for them. This gives them plenty of time to reach the surface of the earth.
This gets even weirder…
From THEIR perspective, the muons imagine themselves as stationary and the ground zooming up towards them. According to Special Theory of Relativity, the distance contracts along the direction of motion, so the muons actually think they are traveling a shorter distance.. And hence they reach Earth.
No comments:
Post a Comment