CHAPTER I

THE PROBLEM IT’S SETTING

THE RESEARCH PROBLEM

Where can you find cosmic rays? Is cosmic rays harmful? Usable?
What are cosmic rays? How can we prevent damage from cosmic rays? How
cosmic rays are for?

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Galactic cosmic rays (GCRs) are the high-energy particles that flow
into our solar system from far away in the Galaxy. GCRs are mostly pieces of
atoms: protons, electrons, and atomic nuclei which have had all of the
surrounding electrons stripped during their high-speed (almost the speed of
light) passage through the Galaxy. Cosmic rays provide one of our few direct
samples of matter from outside the solar system. The magnetic fields of the
Galaxy, the solar system, and the Earth have scrambled the flight paths of
these particles so much that we can no longer point back to their sources in
the Galaxy.

IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY

By monitoring cosmic rays we notice increases and decreases of
cosmic ray strength at ground level. The changes occur for various reasons,
and depending on the intensity, they have various effects on Earth’s
environment, our technology, and our lives. The following section describes
the different effects of cosmic rays. One must remember that cosmic rays
are just one aspect of the complex relationship between Earth and the
cosmos.

SCOPE AND LIMITATION

Cosmic rays generally have little effect on other stellar bodies. The
energy absorbed from a cosmic ray may be re-emitted at a lower energy,
but the effect is usually small. Stellar bodies affect the trajectories of cosmic
rays primarily through their magnetic fields. However, the overall magnetic
field of the interstellar medium is generally more important.