The Effects of Lead
Shielding on Muons
Jesse Honig
Maceo Hastings Porro
Nate Bramham
Our Project

We investigated the effects of lead
shielding on muon count rates
Our Setup
Lead bricks
Cosmic ray
detectors
Acceptance Angle of Scintillators
Detected
Not Detected
Not Detected
Acceptance Angle with Lead
Blocked and Detected
Detected
Not Detected
Detected
Not Detected
Acceptance Angles
Scintillators:168°
1
2
3
4
Layer of Lead:108 °
Layers of Lead:96.9 °
Layers of Lead:87.5 °
Layers of Lead:79.5 °
~% of Detected Particles That Did Not Pass Through All Lead
1
2
3
4
Layer of Lead:35.7%
Layers of Lead:42.2%
Layers of Lead:47.8%
Layers of Lead:52.6%
Predictions
Predictions
Predictions

From 0-20~ -1%
Coincidence Rates
Events/Sec
13
12
Series1
11
Poly. (Series1)
10
9
0
5
10
cm of Lead
15
2
y = 0.0076x
- 0.2491x + 12.176
20
R2 = 0.9749
Coincidence Rates
Events/Sec
13
12
Series1
11
Poly. (Series1)
10
9
0
5
10
15
cm of Lead
y = 0.0093x 2 - 0.272x + 12.203
20
25 R2 = 0.9723
Coincidence Rates
Events/Sec
13
12
Series1
11
Poly. (Series1)
10
9
0
5
10
15
cm of Lead
y = 0.0092x 2 - 0.2705x + 12.201
20
25 R2 = 0.9735
Coincidence Rates
Events/Sec
13
12
Series1
11
Poly. (Series1)
10
9
0
5
10
15
cm of Lead
y = 0.0097x 2 - 0.2767x + 12.149
20
25 R2 = 0.9545
Results




From 0-5: -10.4%
5-10: -3.1%
10-15: -4.9%
15-20: +4.3%
Conclusion

Our results showed us that our
predictions were partially correct.
There was a general decreasing
trend in the number of coincidences
in the data. But the trend was more
rapid and made an unexpected turn
at the end.
Hypothesis

The reason our prediction was only
partially correct was because we did
not account for electrons and other
charged particles which are easily
removed by the lead. But the reason
for the rise in counts at the end is
still unknown.