Essential Questions

• What is radioactive decay?
• How is the decay of a muon like the radioactive decay I learned about in chemistry?
• In what way is radioactive decay a random process?

Activities and Resources

• Explore the different types of decay and the processes at the Particle Adventure website:
  • “What is Decay”
  • “Lepton Decay”
• Use the Arachne display to identify muon decays and the resulting "Michel" electron
• Arachne basics for muon decay (anchor into the teachers guide)
• Radioactive decay models using manipulatives
  • Modeling radioactive decay with dice activity (anchor into teachers guide)
• Radioactive Decay of M&M’s activity (anchor into teachers guide)
  • Tastes better than dice! Mmmm
• CHICOS project student lab on decay of muons in cosmic rays
  • "A Measurement of Muon Half Life using CHICOS Particle Detectors", Bob Gates et alia (need link or just post document)