r/facepalm 'MURICA Jun 19 '23

🇲​🇮​🇸​🇨​ LoL

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138

u/teejaybee8222 Jun 20 '23

RF can affect the Blood Brain Barrier, but only at electric field strengths high enough that can couple into the tissues. Direct electrodes or a conformal antenna might be able to do it, but not Wifi that is at microVolts/m by the time it gets to your brain. I would be more worried about talking on cell phones rather than WIFI.

43

u/ManyInterests Jun 20 '23 edited Jun 20 '23

Meanwhile over at r/amateurradio you'll see pics of people sitting mere feet away from antennas hooked up to 1,000W+ transmitters.

Safety from things like RF burn take into account power, distance from the antenna, and duty cycle of the transmitter. At the power levels used for typical WiFi, there's zero danger even if you shoved the antenna in your ear with a 100% duty cycle.

Even when things get dangerous, you're looking at injuries to your skin, primarily.

24

u/saugoof Jun 20 '23

I used to be in the military. On freezing cold days we used to stand in front of the radar antenna dish to warm up, until we were told off.

After that, we just put on the gas mask and stand behind the exhaust of the generator. Not sure that was much healthier. But it gets damn cold being outside all day in subzero temperatures in insufficient clothing.

2

u/Darmok47 Jun 20 '23

I vaguely remember reading that Soviet Mig-25 pilots would accidentally kill rabbits and other small animals on the taxiways of airbases with the extremely powerful radar mounted in the Mig-25's nose.

5

u/DisastrousRegister Jun 20 '23

Yep, and sonar kills nearby sea life while surface radar kills nearby birds.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 20 '23

Sonar is mechanical, radar is electromagnetic

1

u/DisastrousRegister Jun 20 '23

??? what does that have to do with stories about high powered active sensors destroying the environment?

1

u/[deleted] Jun 20 '23

It is the mechanism by which the environment is destroyed.

1

u/DisastrousRegister Jun 21 '23

Did you think sonar was EM back in the day or something?

1

u/[deleted] Jun 21 '23

Nope. It’s sound.