What are cosmic rays?
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There are three kinds of Cosmic Rays. There are the Galactic Cosmic Rays, coming from outside the solar system. The Anomalous Cosmic Rays, coming from the interstellar space at the edge of the heliopause and the Solar Energetic Particles, associated with solar flares and other energetic solar events. The are a by product of the natural burning process of a star and a natural process of a dying star. I have included a link below that will give you a detailed description of the process, it is in lay terms so to speak. I hope that it can answer your questions. It will set you straight on whether the cosmic rays are "Highly Charged" or "Radio Active". Just remember that a Neutron is the part of an atom that has no charge. It is part of the nucleus. Good luck and happy reading.
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They are known as the fundamental particles of an atom.\n\nIn the nucleus, the PROTONS, which have the + charge, and the NEUTRONS, which have the 0 charge.\n\nOutside the nucleus, the ELECTRONS, which have the - charge.\n\nBut research has it that there are more particles of an atom like the quark, antiquark, lepton, antilepton
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Cerenkov radiation is 'braking radiation.' It happens when particle are travelling faster the speed of light in some medium. The energetic particles slam into atoms in the medium and slow down abruptly. As you may be aware, when you accelerate a charge, it radiates energy. This is no exception -- the particle radiates light, called Cerenkov radiation.
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You could make a cloud chamber. It's a chamber that's saturated with alcohol vapor so when a cosmic ray or radioactive particle enters the chamber it leaves a trail of mist like when a plane leaves a vapor trail. It does use dry ice and isopropyl alcohol though. It's kind of complicated but would be worth it in the end.
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Gamma rays, heat and, in the case of a few highly-radioactive elements, light; they glow in the dark.  Beta particles which are high-energy electrons.   Their kinetic energy can be converted into light by a phosphor such as zinc sulphide, or if they enter a transparent medium with a high refractive index, they emit blue Cerenkov radiation.  Radioactive materials are warmer than their surroundings because alpha particles, beta rays and neutrons are all fast-moving particles and when they are absorbed their kinetic energy is converted into heat.  In a nuclear reactor the heat is used to raise steam which drives a turbine.  In the thermionic generators used on deep space probes it is converted directly into about 200 watts or so of electricity.
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http://www.orau.org/ptp/museumdirectory.htm\n\ngo to this link.  it has one of the finest museums on-line dealing with the detection of radiation...and other neat stuff
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Refer to an electromagnetic spectrum.\nRadiation is emission and propagation and emission of energy in the form of rays or waves (http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q...\nIn other words as long as waves travel there is radiation.\nThere are two types of radiation, the ionizing (harmful) radiation and the non-ionizing (not harmful) radiation.\nYou can see it in a magnetic spectrum. High frequency and low wavelength are those ionizing radiation. High wavelenth and low frequency are those non-ionizing radiation. Penetration of these waves are dependent on their frequencies. High frequencies are able to tranmsmit objects.\nFrom the magnetic spectrum there are different kinds of waves, (from non-ionizing to ionizing) radiowaves, microwaves, infrared, white light, UV, x-rays, gamma rays cosmic rays. These waves travel in a straight line unless scattered by hitting an object or being blocked or interrupted or you know I mean.\nThat's why astronomers detect radiowaves from the outerspace.
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"A particle accelerator is a device that uses electric fields to propel electrically charged particles to high speeds and magnetic fields to contain them. There are two basic types: linear (i.e., straight-line) accelerators and circular accelerators." - Wiki\n\nRead more here\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Particle_accelerators
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Gamma rays (often denoted by the Greek letter gamma, γ) are an energetic form of electromagnetic radiation produced by radioactivity or other nuclear or subatomic processes such as electron-positron annihilation.\n\nGamma rays form the highest-energy end of the electromagnetic spectrum. They are often defined to begin at an energy of 10 keV, a frequency of/ 2.42 EHz, or a wavelength of/ 124 pm, although electromagnetic radiation from around 10 keV to several hundred keV is also referred to as hard X rays. It is important to note that there is no physical difference between gamma rays and X rays of the same energy — they are two names for the same electromagnetic radiation, just as sunlight and moonlight are two names for visible light. Rather, gamma rays are distinguished from X rays by their origin. Gamma ray is a term for high-energy electromagnetic radiation produced by nuclear transitions, while X ray is a term for high-energy electromagnetic radiation produced by energy transitions due to accelerating electrons. Because it is possible for some electron transitions to be of higher energy than some nuclear transitions, there is an overlap between what we call low energy gamma rays and high energy X-rays.\n\nGamma rays are a form of ionizing radiation; they are more penetrating than either alpha or beta radiation (neither of which is electromagnetic radiation), but less ionizing. They produce damage similar to that caused by X-rays, such as burns, cancer, and genetic mutations. Gamma rays from nuclear fallout would probably cause the largest number of casualties in the event of the use of nuclear weapons in a nuclear war. An effective fallout shelter reduces human exposure at least 1000 times.
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I assume they want to know about nuclear radiation.  Some basic facts:\n- 3 types are alpha, beta and gamma\n- All are found in nature, you carry it around in you, it comes from just about all natural materials to some small degree.\n- Naturally occuring radiation is little to worry about, we evolved with it and our bodies can handle it.\n- In most areas of the world, natually occuring radiation hits each square inch of your body between 12-18 times per minute!  Radiation can not be felt by the body.\n- Alpha is the biggest particle (nucleaus of a helium atom) and moves slowly.  Not enough speed to even penetrate the layer of normal dead skin on your body.  \n- Beta is an electron moving at higher speeds.  It too is motly blocked by skin, but in high dosages can start to become a problem.\n- Gamma is not a particle, but a wave like light (but much higher frequency).  X-rays and cosmic rays are the best known.  Cosmic rays are the most common type of radiation that hit our bodies per above.  It comes from high speed particles interacting with our atmosphere.  \n- The small amounts of natural radiation we encounter everyday is not a significant problem, but concentrated sources of radiation are.  These have historically included x-rays, byproducts of nuclear bombs or reactors, mishandled medical/agricultural/engineering equipment.  \n- Ingested alpha and beta emitting materials are dangerous even in tiny amounts and can cause cancer.
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yes plasama is the forth state of matter.Plasmas are conductive assemblies of charged particles, neutrals and fields that exhibit collective effects. Further, plasmas carry electrical currents and generate magnetic fields. Plasmas are the most common form of matter, comprising more than 99% of the visible universe, and permeate the solar system, interstellar and intergalactic environments. \n\nPlasmas are radically multiscale in two senses \n(1) most plasma systems involve electro-dynamic coupling across micro-, meso- and macroscale and (2) plasma systems occur over most of the physically possible ranges in space, energy and density scales. The figure here illustrates where many plasma systems occur in terms of typical densities and temperatures.  \nContemporary Physics Education Project    \n\nHowever, the full range of possible plasma density, energy(temperature) and spatial scales go far beyond this illustration. For example, some space plasmas have been measured to be lower in density than 10 to the power -10 per cubic meter or (10exp-10)/m3 - 13 orders of magnitude less than the scale shown in the figure! On the other extreme, quark-gluon plasmas (although mediated via the strong force field versus the electromagnetic field) are extremely dense nuclear states of matter. For temperature (or energy), some plasma crystal states produced in the laboratory have temperatures close to absolute zero. In contrast, space plasmas have been measured with thermal temperatures above 10+9 degrees Kelvin and cosmic rays (a type of plasma with very large gyroradii) are observed at energies well above those produced in any man-made accelerator laboratory. Considering Powers of 10 is useful for grasping the unique way in which plasmas are radically multi-scale in space, energy and density.
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You will want to reference the following web pages in detail.\n\nWikipedia web page on particle accelerators.\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Particle_accelerator\n\n"High energy accelerators use a linear array of plates (or drift tubes) to which an alternating high energy field is applied. As the particles approach a plate they are accelerated towards it by an opposite polarity charge applied to the plate. As they pass through a hole in the plate, the polarity is switched so that the plate now repels them and they are now accelerated by it towards the next plate.\n...\nThe earliest circular accelerators were cyclotrons, invented in 1929 by Ernest O. Lawrence."\n\nStanford Linear Accelerator Center Virtual Visitor Center website.\nhttp://www2.slac.stanford.edu/vvc/accelerator.html\n\n"Quite simply, accelerators give high energy to subatomic particles, which then collide with targets. Out of this interaction come many other subatomic particles that pass into detectors. From the information gathered in the detectors, physicists can determine properties of the particles and their interactions. \n\nThe higher the energy of the accelerated particles, the more closely we can probe the structure of matter."
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A particle accelerator is a physics device which uses electric fields to accelerate charged particles to immense speeds, sometimes significant fractions of the speed of light. Common particles that can be found within particle accelerators include protons and electrons, the building blocks of the atom.\n\nA particle accelerator is used to observe the behavior of small particles at high velocities and energies, as well as for more everyday purposes such as generating a specific sort of electromagnetic radiation. Particle accelerators are often used to smash particles against each other at very high speeds, revealing their more fundamental components. The x-ray generator and television set are both common examples of particle accelerators, with the same basic design as their larger cousins used in high-energy physics experiments. A particle accelerator falls into one of two categories: circular or linear.\n\nIn a circular particle accelerator, particles are accelerated in a continuous circular path. The advantage of this arrangement is that the particle can be directed in a circle many times, saving hardware. The downside is that particles in circular accelerators emit electromagnetic radiation, called synchrotron radiation. Because their momentum is constantly encouraging them to fly out on a trajectory tangential to the circle, energy must continuously be expended to keep them on the circular path, meaning circular particle accelerators are less efficient. In large accelerators, synchrotron radiation is so intense that the whole accelerator must be buried underground to maintain safety standards. The Fermilab particle accelerator in Illinois has a circular path of 4 miles (6.43 km).\n\nLinear accelerators fire particles in a straight line at a fixed target. The cathode ray tube in your television is a low-energy particle accelerator, which fires photons in the visible light range at a glass plate, the screen. The stream of photons is constantly being redirected to fill the screen with pixels. This redirection occurs fast enough that we perceive the alternating stream of photons as a continuous image.\n\nHigh-energy linear accelerators, or linacs, are used in physics applications. A series of plates alternatively attracts and repels the charged particles moving through them, pulling particles forward when they have not yet passed it, and pushing them away after they have. In this manner, alternating electric fields can be used to accelerate streams of particles to very high velocities and energies. Physicists use these accelerators to simulate exotic conditions, such as those in the center of stars or near the beginning of the universe. The "particle zoo" described by the Standard Model of particle physics was uncovered incrementally in particle accelerator experiments. The largest linear particle accelerator is the Stanford Linear Accelerator with a length of 2 miles (3.2 km).
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The solar wind is a stream of charged particles (protons and electrons predominately) going out from the sun in all directions. When it strikes the atmosphere of earth, up in the ionosphere, it ionizes the gases making up the ionospere.
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Cosmic rays are of higher frecuency and shorter wave lenght, and therefore have more energy.
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Ultra-high energy particles come from all kinds of objects in space:\n\nNeutron stars: \n"    * X-ray burster – a neutron star with a low mass binary companion from which matter is accreted resulting in irregular bursts of energy from the surface of the neutron star.\n    * Pulsar – general term for neutron stars that emit directed pulses of radiation towards us at regular intervals due to their strong magnetic fields.\n    * Magnetar – a neutron star with an extremely strong magnetic field; some magnetars are observed as soft gamma repeaters."1\n\nOther emitters of ultra-high energy particles are:\n\nSupernovae\n"A supernova (pl. supernovae) is a stellar explosion which produces an extremely bright object made of plasma that declines to invisibility over weeks or months. A supernova briefly outshines its entire host galaxy."2\n\nBlack holes\n"A black hole is an object predicted by general relativity[1] with a gravitational field so strong that nothing can escape it — not even light.\n\nA black hole is defined to be a region of space-time where escape to the outside universe is impossible. The boundary of this region is a surface called the event horizon. This surface is not a physically tangible one, but merely a figurative concept of an imaginary boundary. Nothing can move from inside the event horizon to the outside, even briefly."\n\nSo it looks like you get ultra-high energy particles where high energy concentrations impart energy on things which become very highly excited and let off highly energized radiation.  I am not an expert on what is included in the definition of "ultra-high energy" particles, but particles with high energies include neutrinos, photons(gamma rays, x-rays) and matter particles (ions as cosmic wind).
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Mass and energy are different, but can be converted from one to the other. In the sun, nuclear reactions are continually converting small amounts of mass into large amounts of energy, which is light in all forms (from radio waves, through visible light, to gamma rays).\n\nPhotons are a pure form of energy, packets of electromagnetic radiation (sinusoidal electric and magnetic field waves travelling perpendicular to each other), that have no REST mass, but have momentum as they are travelling at the speed of light. This is what allows them to push solar sails.