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Sub-atomic Particles Used To Map Pyramid

Posted by timothy on from the grids-of-matrices-of-lattices dept.

firegate writes "Yahoo News is reporting on a pyramid-mapping project focusing on an ancient Aztec site in Teotihuacan, Mexico. Scientists are attempting to map an ancient pyramid by detecting muons - sub-atomic particles which are left as remnants of ancient cosmic rays. A similar method was used to scan Egypt's Khephren Pyramid in the 1960's."

3 of 41 comments (clear)

  1. So how does it work, exactly? by notyou2 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Anybody able to discern useful details? Does it work by detecting latent muons in the Pyramid, that spontaneously "activate" and get knocked out? Or does it measure the muons that make it THROUGH the pyramid at that moment (from space), and determine from that the density of the material (since solid rock will absorb more muons than alternating rock and air-filled chambers).

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  2. 1960s!? by bhima · · Score: 5, Interesting
    So, Now I am wondering why they didn't just go around to all the various temples and man-made wonders and give them the old "muon once over". Once they built the device they could have subsequently rented it to all of those busy archeologists and museum curators and had a look at everything.

    Come to think of it, it might have been useful in my old house...

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  3. Replacement for the X-Ray machine? by DigiShaman · · Score: 4, Interesting

    "The method is more accurate, cheaper, and more versatile than X-rays but has only been developed in recent decades due to advances in sub-atomic physics."

    So would using this method be safe for living things? Perhaps airports can use lifesize scanners like in the movie Total Recall.

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