Galactic primaries consisting of heavy nuclei have caused problems in electronic circuits that are on spacecraft. If a heavy nucleus hits an ordinary computer chip, the chip may stop operating properly. As a result, engineers have developed chips that are less sensitive to cosmic rays. Cosmic rays also produce radiocarbon in the atmosphere. Radiocarbon, or carbon 14, is a radioactive formof carbon.
Scientists can use it to determine the age of ancient materials and to study solar activity.
Cosmic ray research During the late 1800's, physicists used electroscopes to study radioactivity. An electroscope stores electric charge and indicates the presence of the charge. Exposure to high-energy radiation causes a charged electroscope to lose its charge. Even when the electroscopes were shielded from the most powerful rays known to be given off by radioactive substances, they showed that radiation was still present. In 1912, the Austrian physicist Victor F. Hess took some electroscopes up in a balloon.