068— Muons Over Letchworth

Muons over Letchworth was a public education outreach program aimed at introducing park goers to world of subatomic physics. Open-source detectors were built, placed in housings, and then placed at various high traffic locations throughout the park during the summer of 2020. Each housing also contained an information sheet with facts about muons, as well as a link to our educational website. Detectors had to be visited weekly to collect data and swap batteries, which lead to one of the main goals of the project, talking with the public. This lead to discussions at a much deeper level than the information on the housings themselves, and gave great opportunities to discuss the world of physics with members of the public. In addition to trips to the park, an educational video was also filmed and added to the website where we tested our theories of detection rates while in the local salt mine, and while in a hot air balloon above campus.