Editing 3043: Muons

{{comic
| number    = 3043
| date      = January 27, 2025
| title     = Muons
| image     = muons_2x.png
| imagesize = 284x388px
| noexpand  = true
| titletext = Update: I've been banned from the physics department for the way I pronounce "Doppler effect."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by THE OMG PARTICLE. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

{{w|Muon|Muons}} are elementary sub-atomic particles, often released in {{w|air shower (physics)|air showers}} from high-energy {{w|cosmic ray}} protons causing nuclear decay in our upper atmosphere. These protons come from all over the universe from various interstellar events and have energies in excess of anything our species has created. Some of the muons created in these collisions are deflected away from us and decay quickly in the upper atmosphere. Other muons retain the high energy of the colliding protons and travel so fast that they emit {{w|Cherenkov radiation}} from outpacing photons in air, which is used to visualize air showers with telescopes. Muons usually decay very quickly, but because, in part, of {{w|time dilation}} these high-energy muons are able to penetrate densely deep into the earth. They are also used as a natural radiation source, more powerful than x-rays, for internal imaging, especially of large opaque structures.

Time dilation is the concept from {{w|special relativity}} where faster-moving objects travel through time faster than proportional, resulting in an appearance to an observer of it slowing down for them, as well as an ability to cross greater distances. Because the ‘regular speed’ muons are moving at a relatively normal speed, Cueball pronounces it properly, but because time slows down for the faster moving muons, Cueball adjusts this, and pronounces it much slower, as if he is being slowed down from talking about them.

Cueball is implying that when he says "muons", he is speaking in the same reference frame as them, with time traveling at the same speed for the listener and for the muon. In the same reference frame, muons decay very quickly. He implies that when he says "muuuoooons" very slowly, that he is now speaking in a reference frame where the muons have time dilated relative to the observer and appear to be aging very very slowly. If a relativistic muon were saying its own name, or if Cueball were in the same reference frame as the muon and the observer were not, (and there were a way to transmit sound at relativistic speeds), then the muon might sound like this, stretched out. This is the kind of reference frame in which muons are detected at the surface. We observe them, and we observe that time is passing slower for them than it is for us.

On average, a stationary muon decays after a bit over {{w|Muon#Muon_Decay|two microseconds}}. While moving at {{w|Muon#Muon Decay|99.97% of the speed of light}}, their lifespan (from our perspective) stretches to nearly ninety microseconds (a {{w|Lorentz factor}} of ~40.8). If Cueball speaks at four syllables per second (a typical {{w|Speech tempo|speech tempo}} for English), it will take him about half of a second to name the "muons" created in the upper atmosphere; it will take him more than twenty seconds to name the fast-moving "muuuuuoooons." 

The title text references the {{w|Doppler effect}}, the change in frequency of a wave when the observer is moving relative to the source. One common example of this is how the sound to a stationary observer of a fast car or airplane starts at a high pitched note but then drops to a low droning noise as it passes. By analogy with the time dilation example, Cueball likely imitates this change in pitch and speed of syllables whenever pronouncing the phrase "Doppler effect" ('Dop-llllerrrr eehfffffeeeehccccctttth'). Languages in Randall's native language family do not represent different words or sounds with different pitches, so speaking "Doppler effect" with the timing and pitch changes of a real doppler effect of a fast-moving object passing a listener, would at least be understood, although could be quite jarring and distracting to hear conversationally. Alternatively, he may be stretching out the "p" sound by saying "p-p-p-p", producing a spitting or {{w|Blowing a raspberry|"raspberry"}} sound, which would be highly offensive.{{cn}} For more on Doppler effect, see [[1531: The BDLPSWDKS Effect]].

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Cueball is standing in front of a whiteboard, which contains a diagram depicting a muon passing through the atmosphere, a distance labeled with a cursive letter, the equation for the Lorentz factor, and some illegible text. He's facing away from the whiteboard and holding a pointer that points towards the diagram.]
:Cueball: ''Muons'' created in the upper atmosphere decay immediately, but fast moving ''muuuuuoooons'' are able to reach the surface due to their longer half-lives.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Physics tip: Remember to adjust your pronunciations to account for time dilation.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Tips]]
[[Category:Banned from conferences]]