Word: electron
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...smaller stars in this galaxy). But this theory could not account for rays whose energy is above a critical limit. The galaxy's overall magnetic field can make fairly powerful rays curve enough to stay inside it, but if the rays acquire more than about 1018 (11billion billion) electron volts, the galactic field cannot hold them. Such rays will shoot off and be lost in intergalactic space. So cosmic-ray experts reason that if rays hit the earth with more than 1018 electron volts, they must come from some unknown accelerating force that works outside the galaxy...
...hunt ed for cosmic rays above this critical limit. The original energy of a cosmic ray can be measured by counting the second-ary particles that it showers down on the earth after colliding with air molecules in the high atmosphere. If its energy is 1016 (io million billion) electron volts, it generates millions of particles, mostly electrons and mesons which spread over many acres of ground. More powerful rays give even bigger showers...
...shower caught by Record No. 026508 went back to the Kirtland computer for a special full-dress analysis. Next day Dr. Linsley got the exciting news. The shower peppered the ground with io billion particles, and when it hit the atmosphere, it carried 20 to 40 billion billion electron volts. This made it by far the most powerful ray ever detected. Its energy, far above the critical limit, proved that it must have come from outside the Milky Way galaxy. Very likely it had been traveling for billions of years, pushed by unknown forces from an unknown source...
...across 480,000 miles of space are fantastic. The greatest hazard is cosmic radiation. The U.S.'s interplanetary probe, Pioneer V, reported a sinister, unpredictable enemy lurking in space: wide-ranging "storms" of deadly proton particles, spewed forth by the sun, of such energy (up to 20 billion electron volts per particle) that they will easily penetrate the thickest protective shield...
...ring-shaped metal tube 7 in. wide and 3 in. high, which is pumped free of air. Bursts of protons (nuclei of hydrogen atoms) are shot into the tube by a smaller accelerator, and the magnets guide them around its half-mile circuit. Entering with 50 Mev (million electron-volts) of energy, the protons are grabbed by quickly shifting electrical forces and accelerated to their fantastic speeds...