What confuses the hell out of me is that BOTH sides of this discussion talk of "radiation". The side that refutes possibly damage from electromagnetic radiation always talks in terms of "Power", radiated power (they usually have scientists on this side). The side that insists that damage can happen always chooses to try to refute the "power arguments" of the other side.
There are two concepts here. One is the effect of a photon hitting something, the other is power.
The two measurements, "amount of effect" and "power" are unrelated. UNRELATED.
Electromagnetic radiation is carried in a particle called a photon. Light is
electromagnetic radiation. Light is carried by photons. Radio "waves" are actually streams of photons traveling away from the broadcast antenna. ALL radio "waves" (microwave, cell phones, TV, 'radio', X-Rays, RADAR, WiFi) are actually streams of photons. The "Power" of a radio (TV, cell phone, microwave) is actually a measurement of the NUMBER of PHOTONS carried in the "radio wave". This is a fact of physics. I no longer remember the exact equations involved (36 years way from radio engineering). BUT, you can look it up on the web. I'm right (as far as I go).
There is another factor here. Each photon is a "packet of energy". ALL photons are are considered packets of energy. Since photons make up radio waves, microwaves, light, and X-Rays, they "fit in" across a wide band of electromagnetic radiation (called 'EM' from here on). EM radiation is divided into 'sections', to make it easier to describe. These sections are grouped by perceived common behavior. The entire range of EM is divided by frequency into "bands" (we know this, FM, AM, Short wave, etc.).
As it happens, this banding by frequency is not arbitrary, there is an equation for describing the amount of energy in a "packet of energy" (photon). The energy contained within a single photon is expressed: E = hf where 'f' is the frequency of the EM radiation, and h is Planck's constant. In common terms, the amount of energy contained in a photon increases as the frequency of that photon increases. They are directly proportional.
This "energy of the photon" is (to a great extent) what "counts" when considering the interaction of a photon with other particles. In other words, a low energy photon (radio wave) can hit an atom and nothing will happen. The photon will bounce off. [There is the effect of "hop over", where the low frequency photon has such a long wavelength that it "hops over' the atoms and molecules. Which is why lower frequency radio waves penetrate into buildings, etc..] Even at frequencies up to that of light, photons mostly bounce off. Microwave radiation (like in your kitchen) also mostly bounces off of individual atoms. The difference with microwaves (and any frequency up to ultra-violet) is that while the energy of the photons is not enough to knock "pieces" off of individual atoms, they DO carry enough energy to move the atoms a bit upon impact (they heat up the atoms). This is how microwave cooking works (only with continuous streams of photons, heating noticeable numbers of atoms and molecules).
The two measurements, "amount of effect" and "power" are unrelated. UNRELATED.
Electromagnetic radiation is carried in a particle called a photon. Light is
electromagnetic radiation. Light is carried by photons. Radio "waves" are actually streams of photons traveling away from the broadcast antenna. ALL radio "waves" (microwave, cell phones, TV, 'radio', X-Rays, RADAR, WiFi) are actually streams of photons. The "Power" of a radio (TV, cell phone, microwave) is actually a measurement of the NUMBER of PHOTONS carried in the "radio wave". This is a fact of physics. I no longer remember the exact equations involved (36 years way from radio engineering). BUT, you can look it up on the web. I'm right (as far as I go).
There is another factor here. Each photon is a "packet of energy". ALL photons are are considered packets of energy. Since photons make up radio waves, microwaves, light, and X-Rays, they "fit in" across a wide band of electromagnetic radiation (called 'EM' from here on). EM radiation is divided into 'sections', to make it easier to describe. These sections are grouped by perceived common behavior. The entire range of EM is divided by frequency into "bands" (we know this, FM, AM, Short wave, etc.).
As it happens, this banding by frequency is not arbitrary, there is an equation for describing the amount of energy in a "packet of energy" (photon). The energy contained within a single photon is expressed: E = hf where 'f' is the frequency of the EM radiation, and h is Planck's constant. In common terms, the amount of energy contained in a photon increases as the frequency of that photon increases. They are directly proportional.
This "energy of the photon" is (to a great extent) what "counts" when considering the interaction of a photon with other particles. In other words, a low energy photon (radio wave) can hit an atom and nothing will happen. The photon will bounce off. [There is the effect of "hop over", where the low frequency photon has such a long wavelength that it "hops over' the atoms and molecules. Which is why lower frequency radio waves penetrate into buildings, etc..] Even at frequencies up to that of light, photons mostly bounce off. Microwave radiation (like in your kitchen) also mostly bounces off of individual atoms. The difference with microwaves (and any frequency up to ultra-violet) is that while the energy of the photons is not enough to knock "pieces" off of individual atoms, they DO carry enough energy to move the atoms a bit upon impact (they heat up the atoms). This is how microwave cooking works (only with continuous streams of photons, heating noticeable numbers of atoms and molecules).
O.K., so we have the effect of radiated power, which is the amount of photons in any given "stream" of EM. Brighter light, better cell phone reception (more bars), higher heat level in your microwave oven, all these are variations of power. We also have the size of the effect a single photon has when it hits something. The energy carried by the individual photon. This effect can, and does, mostly decide what happens when matter is exposed to EM radiation. It is not the amount of energy packets hitting you, it is the size of the energy packet. [You can let 10 2 year old kids hit you all at once, and you would worry about the kids getting hurt. Letting George Foreman hit you ONCE, and you will be worrying about how close is the nearest hospital.]
Which leads us to the "matter" in all the preceding statements being organic in nature.
We can safely say that at any frequency below about 1 Giga-Hertz a photon will either "step over" most of the atoms and molecules in an organic body or will bounce off them without having enough energy to move them or alter them in any observable way. At frequencies from around 1 Giga-Hertz and up, the energy contained in a photon can, *if* it hits a certain type of atom in a certain place, cause the atom (or molecule) so change its chemical properties. In an exceedingly small number of cases, this molecule or atom will be part of something critical (DNA, for example).
So, in my estimation, considering the over 6 billion humans on this planet, and the trillions of cells in the human body, PLUS the trillions of photons traveling through (or into) our bodies that are over 1 Giga-Hertz in frequency, there can be some negative health effects from prolonged and frequent exposure to Cell & WiFi wireless signals. Maybe one person out of 100 million, but the odds are that someone, somewhere, at some TIME will be affected.
As of 02/22/2011, it seems like I am not the only one considering these ideas: http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/305/8/808.abstract/
As of 05/31/2011, it seems like the WHO (World Health Organization) has data from some studies done that are backing up my theory. The WHO has NOT, however, made a direct connection between cell phone usage and cancer, they have so far stated that it is possible (not probable).
As of 02/22/2011, it seems like I am not the only one considering these ideas: http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/305/8/808.abstract/
As of 05/31/2011, it seems like the WHO (World Health Organization) has data from some studies done that are backing up my theory. The WHO has NOT, however, made a direct connection between cell phone usage and cancer, they have so far stated that it is possible (not probable).
This blog entry WILL be further edited by me to correct errors and clean it up. Just not now. This is to be considered a second draft.
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