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Cosmic Ray Detector

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Gather Your Materials

You'll need the following materials to build the cosmic ray detector:

  • Scissors
  • Black heavy felt
  • Clean, empty glass jar with a rubber washer or cardboard filler under the lid
  • Ruler
  • Rubber cement
  • Rubbing alcohol
  • Two towels
  • Pie tin
  • Rubber gloves
  • Block of dry ice (enough to fill pie tin)
  • Hammer
  • Ice tongs
  • Flashlight
  • Three books (preferably not valuable, as masking tape will be used on them)
  • Masking tape
  • Small magnet
This experiment can be kind of tricky and may need to be conducted a couple of times to get it right. Some materials, such as dry ice, may be difficult to get hold of and should be handled with care. We recommend that you ask a responsible adult for help in conducting this experiment.

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