High-energy "cosmic rays" are actually bare atomic nuclei which have been accelerated to nearly the speed of light, probably by supernova shock waves. As the nuclei strike atoms in the earth's atmosphere, they produce a cascade of secondary particles (mostly muons, which have the same negative charge as electrons but a much greater mass). The energy of a cosmic ray is kinetic energy, which is not easily converted into electrical energy (the particles are more likely to pass through a collecting device than to transfer their energy to the device in a usable form). In addition, high-energy cosmic rays are very rare; cosmic rays with energies of 10^20 electron volts (with the kinetic energy of a baseball traveling 160 km/h or 100 mph) only occur about once per century per square kilometer (0.4 square miles). In short, cosmic rays are hard to catch and don't provide enough energy to justify the cost of trying to develop a way to catch them.
Source(s):
http://helios.gsfc.nasa.gov/cosmic.html
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/personnel/dick/cos_encyc.html

Asker's Rating:

Permalink | Report