What are these directional energetic particles?

[Kosdon3200]

TL;DR Summary

In addition to the usual alpha and beta particles visible in my condensation cloud chamber, I see occasional tracks that seem highly energetic -they easily penetrate the entire width of the cloud chamber (10-12 inches) going in one side and out the other. What are they?

In addition to the usual alpha and beta particles visible in my condensation cloud chamber, I see occasional tracks that seem highly energetic -they easily penetrate the entire width of the cloud chamber (10-12 inches) going in one side and out the other. More mysteriously, their orientation is almost always of a vector parallel to the N/S compass axis. I am trying to determine if these are muons... but my understanding of muons is that they are too short lived to make such long trails. What are they and why the consistent vector?

Here's a link to what I've described above:

 

[sophiecentaur]

You could possibly test for charge, using an applied magnetic field?

 

[Vanadium 50]

but my understanding of muons is that they are too short lived to make such long trails.

Why do you think that? What is the muon lifetime? How fast do you think they are going? How far will they go in that time?

 

[Kosdon3200]

Why do you think that? What is the muon lifetime? How fast do you think they are going? How far will they go in that time?

Thanks for the question. My original thought process was to take the average lifetime of 2.2 ms multiplied by the speed of light, but as I learned through some great writing about this very topic my method was overly simplified. See here:

Einsteins Relativity In The Palm Of Your Hand

 

[sophiecentaur]

The 'well known' effect of time dilation on atmospheric muons accounts for the fact that they penetrate much further into the atmosphere than would be expected. Measurements of muon flux at various heights on mountains show a very significant effect on their apparent half lives as they are traveling at speeds not far short of c.