On my phone, I have aeroplane mode on with WiFi on and Bluetooth off. I don't use cell towers at all (I don't even have a SIM card in it).
Is that more or less radiation than a laptop using WiFi? I imagine less since a phone needs to run on less power.
Is that more or less radiation than a laptop using WiFi? I imagine less since a phone needs to run on less power.
>as a general rule we know that chronic exposure to RF at close proximity (such as phone against head or in pocket) leads to cancer and also interferes with nerve activity
Where can one read more about that? Any studies?
Where can one read more about that? Any studies?
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Typically, a laptop has the Wi-Fi antenna located in the screen, often on the top of the screen.
It's actually a really complicated.
So first, you have time distance and shielding being the main thing that says how much exposure you get to a source of any radiation. That's just sort of the basic standard. Typically you're not going to need to be merely as close to a laptop screen as you would have to be to a phone, and every time the distance between you and the radiation and admitting device doubles, you're getting a quarter of the dose.
Second, for the purposes of whether something is actually a meaningful dose of radiation it's very important where the device is in relation to your body. Muscle tissue tends to be much more robust, while internal organs are significantly more sensitive.
Third, the energy of each particle of radiation is very important. A light particle of infrared light is that a considerably lower energy level than far ultraviolet so the former tends not to be remotely ionizing wheread the latter is well known to everyone to cause skin cancer. Even within particles you would consider to be the same, for example a gamma ray produced by Cobalt is considerably higher energy than a gamma ray produced by cesium, and so the same number of particles is actually considered considerably more dangerous to the human body.
Fourth, the characteristics of the particle that you're dealing with are also quite important. Typically when you're talking about radiation we'd be talking about alpha, beta, gamma, x-rays, and neutron radiation. Neutron radiation consists of bare neutrons without any protons to give them a charge. Alpha radiation consists of essentially hydrogen molecules being spit out by a radioactive substance. Beta radiation consists of electrons being shot off by the radioactive substance. Gamma radiation is an electromagnetic wave with an extremely high power. X-rays are extremely similar to gamma radiation except that they are produced by an x-ray machine rather than the decay of a radioactive substance. Each of these behave in fundamentally different ways so you have to deal with them in fundamentally different ways. Alpha radiation will typically be blocked by a sheet of paper, but if it gets inside your body it's extremely harmful. Beta radiation can be blocked by pretty minimal shielding, and will only reach a load a millimeter to into your skin. Gamma radiation can penetrate the entire human body, and that has two consequences: first, it means that most gamma particles won't interact with your body, but once they do rather than just affecting your skin they can affect arbitrary molecules inside your body.
So the characteristics of radio waves matter in a number of different ways. First, the energy of an individual radio wave admitted by a radio transmitter or other electronic device is significantly lower than that of visible light. Typically what's going to happen is it can heat up molecules but it can't really change them. Second, different radio frequencies are going to have different transmission ability through the human body. As a general rule, the lower frequency radio waves tend to go through things without touching them, which is why for example radio stations tend to be in the kilohertz and megawatts range, and since it can blast past most of the obstacles in its way. By contrast, higher frequency radio waves tend to start to interact more with things around them. The new five and six gigahertz Wi-Fi standards really struggle even to make it through walls, which is one of the reasons why the 2.4 gigahertz frequencies are still in use by those standards.
You have experienced something similar to this in your life with respect to sounds. Have you ever been next to a place or a car and they're blasting their music? All of the high frequency sounds, and most of the mid frequency sounds are stopped by the windows of the car, but you can clearly hear the bass.
Just like the comparison with alpha and gamma radiation, it's an interesting trade-off because radio waves that don't penetrate the body at all will end up just heating up the skin, and they'll typically just dump all of their energy right there. Radio waves that can penetrate deeper into the body have a potential to affect things inside of the body, but there's also a greater chance that it just passes right through without depositing the energy anywhere, and also the energy is spread out over a larger physical area.
One thing to keep in mind is that just because something is electromagnetic radiation doesn't mean that it's necessarily dangerous or unwanted. Right now you are probably in the same room as a device designed to put out several Watts worth of electromagnetic radiation, the lights.
It's actually a really complicated.
So first, you have time distance and shielding being the main thing that says how much exposure you get to a source of any radiation. That's just sort of the basic standard. Typically you're not going to need to be merely as close to a laptop screen as you would have to be to a phone, and every time the distance between you and the radiation and admitting device doubles, you're getting a quarter of the dose.
Second, for the purposes of whether something is actually a meaningful dose of radiation it's very important where the device is in relation to your body. Muscle tissue tends to be much more robust, while internal organs are significantly more sensitive.
Third, the energy of each particle of radiation is very important. A light particle of infrared light is that a considerably lower energy level than far ultraviolet so the former tends not to be remotely ionizing wheread the latter is well known to everyone to cause skin cancer. Even within particles you would consider to be the same, for example a gamma ray produced by Cobalt is considerably higher energy than a gamma ray produced by cesium, and so the same number of particles is actually considered considerably more dangerous to the human body.
Fourth, the characteristics of the particle that you're dealing with are also quite important. Typically when you're talking about radiation we'd be talking about alpha, beta, gamma, x-rays, and neutron radiation. Neutron radiation consists of bare neutrons without any protons to give them a charge. Alpha radiation consists of essentially hydrogen molecules being spit out by a radioactive substance. Beta radiation consists of electrons being shot off by the radioactive substance. Gamma radiation is an electromagnetic wave with an extremely high power. X-rays are extremely similar to gamma radiation except that they are produced by an x-ray machine rather than the decay of a radioactive substance. Each of these behave in fundamentally different ways so you have to deal with them in fundamentally different ways. Alpha radiation will typically be blocked by a sheet of paper, but if it gets inside your body it's extremely harmful. Beta radiation can be blocked by pretty minimal shielding, and will only reach a load a millimeter to into your skin. Gamma radiation can penetrate the entire human body, and that has two consequences: first, it means that most gamma particles won't interact with your body, but once they do rather than just affecting your skin they can affect arbitrary molecules inside your body.
So the characteristics of radio waves matter in a number of different ways. First, the energy of an individual radio wave admitted by a radio transmitter or other electronic device is significantly lower than that of visible light. Typically what's going to happen is it can heat up molecules but it can't really change them. Second, different radio frequencies are going to have different transmission ability through the human body. As a general rule, the lower frequency radio waves tend to go through things without touching them, which is why for example radio stations tend to be in the kilohertz and megawatts range, and since it can blast past most of the obstacles in its way. By contrast, higher frequency radio waves tend to start to interact more with things around them. The new five and six gigahertz Wi-Fi standards really struggle even to make it through walls, which is one of the reasons why the 2.4 gigahertz frequencies are still in use by those standards.
You have experienced something similar to this in your life with respect to sounds. Have you ever been next to a place or a car and they're blasting their music? All of the high frequency sounds, and most of the mid frequency sounds are stopped by the windows of the car, but you can clearly hear the bass.
Just like the comparison with alpha and gamma radiation, it's an interesting trade-off because radio waves that don't penetrate the body at all will end up just heating up the skin, and they'll typically just dump all of their energy right there. Radio waves that can penetrate deeper into the body have a potential to affect things inside of the body, but there's also a greater chance that it just passes right through without depositing the energy anywhere, and also the energy is spread out over a larger physical area.
One thing to keep in mind is that just because something is electromagnetic radiation doesn't mean that it's necessarily dangerous or unwanted. Right now you are probably in the same room as a device designed to put out several Watts worth of electromagnetic radiation, the lights.