Jie's Abstract
Abstract
The kinetic theory explains temperature as the collective motion of many particles. (--------------Research-----------) The effects of thermal energy can usually only be seen as an average of millions of billions of particles working together. Statistical physics describes temperature variation as the average kinetic energy, with very few particles with a large amount of kinetic energy and many particles with very small amounts of kinetic energy. This experiment takes advantage of that theory to detect single particles. It uses a new photon detector called an SiPM (Silicon Photomultiplier). The SiPM works like a mousetrap, storing a large amount of energy. A single particle could have enough energy to cause the SiPM to release the all of its stored energy. This energy is then detected and this is the detection of the thermal energy of an individual particle.