ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Muon tomography

Muon tomography is like taking a very special picture of something that is hidden inside something else. It's a bit like when you use your eyes to look inside a box, but instead of using your eyes, you use something called muons.

Muons are tiny particles that are floating around us all the time, even though we can't see them. They are similar to electrons, which are the things that make electricity work. But muons are much heavier and can pass through things that electrons can't.

Scientists use muons to take pictures of things that are hidden inside big objects like mountains or buildings. They do this by putting a special detector on one side of the object and measuring how many muons go through it. Some of the muons will be blocked by the object, but others will make it through and hit the detector. By measuring how many muons come through at different angles, scientists can make a picture of what's inside.

Think of it like shining a flashlight on a wall. If you hold the flashlight close to the wall, the light will only shine on a small spot. But if you move the flashlight farther away and shine it at an angle, the light will cover a wider area. That's kind of like what muon tomography does, except instead of a flashlight, it uses muons to shine through a big object.

Muon tomography can be really useful for finding things like hidden rooms or tunnels. It's also sometimes used to look for dangerous things like nuclear waste. Overall, it's a cool way that scientists can use tiny particles to see things that would otherwise be impossible to see.