How to Use cosmic ray in a Sentence
cosmic ray
noun-
This makes sense, experts say, if cosmic rays are the source.
—Quanta Magazine, 27 Aug. 2019
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So an uptick in cosmic rays should lead to an uptick in gamma rays.
—Shannon Hall, Scientific American, 28 Mar. 2018
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In the tissues of the body, ionization leaves a trail of damage along the cosmic ray’s path.
—K. N. Smith, Discover Magazine, 1 May 2015
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Some of it comes from the sun; some arrives as cosmic rays from far greater distances.
—Rahul Rao, Popular Science, 9 Nov. 2023
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The key fact here is that cosmic rays can’t penetrate ice.
—Avery Thompson, Popular Mechanics, 13 June 2018
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People got hurt more than just getting hit by some kind of cosmic ray or punched across a room.
—Christian Holub, EW.com, 4 Nov. 2022
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So, the new find pegs blazars as accelerators of at least some of the fastest-moving cosmic rays as well.
—Mike Wall, NBC News, 12 July 2018
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Where does the rain of high-energy particles from space known as cosmic rays come from?
—Dennis Overbye, New York Times, 12 July 2018
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This allows axion searches to use light from the Sun, cosmic rays, and sources of radiation in the lab.
—Chris Lee, Ars Technica, 12 Nov. 2018
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The satellite, which weighed less than 31 pounds, was equipped with instruments to measure cosmic rays.
—Sean Greene, latimes.com, 31 Jan. 2018
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But until now, scientists haven't known for sure where these cosmic rays come from.
—Amina Khan, latimes.com, 12 July 2018
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What is the history of cosmic ray particles in the galaxy?
—Melissa Reinert, Cincinnati.com, 11 Sep. 2017
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These filaments appear to be composed of huge amounts of cosmic ray electrons moving at close to the speed of light.
—Matt Hrodey, Discover Magazine, 7 June 2023
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For now, the researchers are turning to sunspots and cosmic rays for an explanation.
—Alex Fox, Science | AAAS, 9 Sep. 2019
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That mission was a success and proved the deployment could work (though the spacecraft did get zapped a few times by errant cosmic rays).
—Loren Grush, The Verge, 21 June 2019
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At least two comet-like objects have made their way to our solar system, and naked cores of atoms rain down upon our heads daily in the form of cosmic rays.
—Charlie Wood, Popular Science, 30 Apr. 2020
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Astronomers have wondered about this since cosmic rays were first discovered, way back in 1912.
—Mike Wall, NBC News, 12 July 2018
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In 1970 scientists placed cosmic ray detectors in the lowest chamber in the Pyramid of Khafre.
—Edmund S. Higgins, The Conversation, 30 Sep. 2021
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The solar and cosmic rays strip atoms in the area of one or more of their electrons, giving them a positive charge and leaving the electrons to act as free particles.
—Grace Donnelly, Fortune, 26 Mar. 2018
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And very few places in the universe have magnetic fields strong enough to whip cosmic rays up to sufficient energies.
—Thomas Lewton, Quanta Magazine, 29 June 2023
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Such rocks are constantly hit by cosmic rays hurtling down from space, which change individual oxygen-16 atoms in quartz to beryllium-10 atoms, one by one.
—Lizzie Wade, Science | AAAS, 30 May 2018
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The initial observations in the 1980s revealed that the strands are composed of cosmic ray electrons that gyrate the magnetic field at nearly the speed of light.
—Joshua Rapp Learn, Discover Magazine, 13 May 2022
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Like other cosmic rays, scientists knew this one came from outer space.
—Will Sullivan, Smithsonian Magazine, 30 Nov. 2023
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The impact of a cosmic ray also creates vibrational energy, which takes the form of something called phonons.
—John Timmer, Ars Technica, 14 Dec. 2021
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The new findings could help researchers better understand the origin of these cosmic rays, Taboada tells NPR.
—Will Sullivan, Smithsonian Magazine, 30 June 2023
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If the nucleus recoils with enough vigor, and if the atoms that are perturbed are then buried deep in the earth (to shield the sample from cosmic rays that can muddy the data), then the recoil track could be preserved.
—Wired, 13 Jan. 2019
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The group applied a physics technique that allowed them to track particles called muons, which come from cosmic rays striking atoms in the upper atmosphere.
—Cassandra Santiago and Sarah El Sirgany, CNN, 2 Nov. 2017
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The highly energetic particles in a cosmic ray’s air shower plow through the water faster than light can.
—Adam Hadhazy, Discover Magazine, 13 Nov. 2018
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In the 17th frame of backward-facing time-lapse, a small black speck appears briefly before disappearing, which is a result of a cosmic ray hitting the camera sensor, according to NASA.
—Jon Michael Raasch Fox News, Fox News, 2 Jan. 2024
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The cancer risk from cosmic rays and the problems that human bodies experience in microgravity could be deal-breakers on their own.
—Sarah Scoles, Scientific American, 1 Oct. 2023
Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'cosmic ray.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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