Problems Based on Space Weather and Space Radiations

Q.1 An electron and a proton enter a uniform magnetic field of strength 5.00 mT with a velocity
of 8.00x105 m.s-1. Calculate the radius of the circular orbits and the directions of motion of
both charged particles. Before you do the numerical calculation, predict which orbit will
have the greatest orbit. Justify your answer.
Q.2 A cosmic ray electron moves at 7.5 x 106 m/s perpendicular to the Earth’s magnetic field
at an altitude where field strength is 1.0 x 10-5 Tesla. What is the radius of the circular path
the electron follows?
Q.3 A proton moves at 7.5 x 107 m/s perpendicular to a magnetic field. The field causes the
proton to travel in a circular path of radius 0.800 m. What is the field strength?
Q.4 Viewers of Star Trek hear of an antimatter drive on the Starship Enterprise. One possibility
for such a futuristic energy source is to store antimatter charged particles in a vacuum
chamber, circulating in a magnetic field, and then extract them as needed. Antimatter
annihilates with normal matter, producing pure energy. (a) What strength magnetic field is
needed to hold antiprotons, moving at 7.5 x 107 m/s in a circular path 2.00 m in radius?
Antiprotons have the same mass as protons but the opposite (negative) charge. (b) Is this
field strength obtainable with today’s technology or is it a futuristic possibility?
Q.5 (a) An oxygen-16 ion with a mass of 2.66 x 10-26 kg travels at 5.0x106 m/s perpendicular
to a 1.20-T magnetic field, which makes it move in a circular arc with a 0.231-m radius.
What positive charge is on the ion? (b) What is the ratio of this charge to the charge of an
electron? (c) Discuss why the ratio found in (b) should be an integer.
Q.6 The Cluster satellite constellation consists of 5 satellites orbiting Earth in a close formation.
They were designed to measure Earth's magnetic field, and particles in space such as
protons and electrons. This graph shows the strength of Earth's magnetic field measured
by the Cluster C1 satellite as it orbited Earth between January 1 and January 6, 2010.
 (a) About what is the highest magnetic field strength measured along the satellite's orbit?
(b) The satellite's orbit had a perigee (closest point to Earth) of 10,000 km and an apogee
(farthest distance from Earth) of 140,000 km. About what was the strength of the magnetic
field at A) Perigee? B) Apogee?
(c) How many hours did it take the satellite to complete one orbit? Explain how you
determined this from the graph.
(d) Below is a table of data taken at specific distances from Earth during the orbit. Graph
this data. Does the strength decrease as the inverse-square or inverse-cube of the distance?

Point Distance Strength

(km) (nT)
1 10,000 10,000
2 30,000 370
3 40,000 160
4 50,000 83
5 60,000 44
6 70,000 30
7 140,000 6
Q.7 The natural radiation background at sea level is about 0.4 microSeiverts/hour. In terms of
milliSeiverts, what is your total radiation dose after A) 1 year? B) a 70-year lifetime?
Q.8 A human living on the surface of Earth receives a total dose of 4 milliSv each year (365
days) from the natural environment, food, and other sources for which there is little control.
What is the radiation dose rate in A) microSv/day? B) microSv/hour?
Q.9 The radiation dose rate on the International Space Station is 1 milliSv/day. How many days
worth of natural background radiation does this dose rate equal on the ground?
Q.10 In the Van Allen belts, the average radiation dose rate for a satellite is about 50 Gray per
year. If a human astronaut had the same shielding as a satellite, and required 1 hour to
travel through the Van Allen belts, what would be their total dose at the end of the trip if
1Gray = 1 Sievert?
Q.11 Satellites are eventually damaged by the radiation effects they accumulate over their
lifetimes. A satellite that accumulates 1000 Grays of radiation is usually at the end of its
reliable lifespan. How long would such a satellite last in the Van Allen belts if its annual
dose rate is 50 Gray per year for a lightly-shielded satellite?
Q.12 At the typical cruising altitude of a passenger jet, about 10,000 meters (33,000 feet), the
dose rate is about 5 microSeiverts/hour. During its years of operation, the French Concorde
jet traveled at altitudes of 18,000 meters (54,000 feet) where the cosmic radiation dose
rate was about 15 microSeiverts/hour. If a flight from Paris to New York takes 8 hours by
ordinary jet and 3.5 hours by Concorde, what are the total radiation doses for a passenger
in each case?
Q.13 The Japan 2011 earthquake damaged several nuclear reactors, causing radiation leakage
across northern Japan. On March 22, 2011 typical radiation levels across most of Japan
were below 10 microSeiverts/hour. The typical annual radiation dose from all forms of
natural sources, medical tests, and food consumption is about 0.4 milliSeiverts. How many
days will it take for a Japanese citizen to reach this annual dose level?
Q.14 Suppose the radial distance between the center of Earth and the spacecraft can be modeled
as a simple linear function during the time the shielded spacecraft is inside the Van Allen
belts, and the radiation dose rate is modeled by a simple power-law function:
Path: R(T) =7000 + 3000T kilometers, where T is the elapsed time in hours.
Dose Rate: D(R) = 60(R/25000)2 milliGrays/hour, where R is in kilometers.
(a) What is the dose rate formula re-written so that the dose rate is a function of time D(T)?
(b)The integral of the dose rate formula D(T) with respect to time is the accumulated total
dose.
(c)Perform this integration for one 10-hour orbit of the spacecraft assuming that the total
dose over the time interval T: [0h, 10h] is equal to twice the dose rate over the time interval
T: [0h, 5h].
(d) How many years will it take for the spacecraft total dose to equal 1000 Grays?
Q.15 Consider a circular bathtub initially filled with water draining out with a speed of 5 m/s
through a hole at the bottom center of the bathtub. The Coriolis force is given by 𝐹𝑐𝑜 =
2Ω sin(𝛷) 𝑣 (m/s2) where Ω = 7.27x 10−5 𝑠 −1is the earth’s rate of rotation, 𝛷 = 220
denotes the latitude and v is the speed relative to the Earth.
(i) Compute the magnitude of the Coriolis force deflecting the draining water.
(ii) Is the Coriolis force acting on the water either greater than, less than or equal to the
force of gravity (g=9.8 m/s2) acting on the water?
Q.16 The NASA, Mars Radiation Environment Experiment (MARIE) measured the daily
radiation dosages from a satellite orbiting Mars between March 13, 2002 and September
30, 2003 as shown in the figure above. The dose rate is given in units of milliRads per day.
(1 Rad = 2 Rems for cosmic radiation.) The six tall 'spikes' are Solar Proton Events (SPEs)
which are related to solar flares, while the rest of the plotted data (the wiggly line!) is the
dosage caused by galactic cosmic rays (GCRs).
(a) By finding the approximate area under the plotted data, calculate the total radiation
dosage in Rems for the GCRs during the observation period between 4/03/2002 and
8/20/2003.
(b) Assuming that each SPE event lasted 3 days, and that its plotted profile is a simple
rectangle, calculate the total radiation dosage in Rems for the SPEs during the observation
period.
(c) What would be the total radiation dosage for an unshielded astronaut orbiting Mars
under these conditions?
(d) Are SPEs more important than GCRs as a source of radiation? Explain why or why not
in terms of estimation uncertainties that were used.