[extropy-chat] cell phone usage distance ... minimizing exposure

[Martin Striz]

On 7/28/06, Ensel Sharon <user at dhp.com> wrote:

> What kind of reduction are we talking about here in brain exposure when
> the emitter is moved from (touching the head) to (forearms length or so
> away).

You already have the answer: just use the inverse square law and
substitute some representative numbers for the scenario you describe
(pick a point a few centimeters inside the head so you don't run into
the r^2 singularity if r = 0 at the ear).

For example, let's use a point inside the head that is 3 cm from the
phone.  If you move the phone a "forearm's length" away, about 30 cm,
you've increased the distance 10 fold.  The concommitant reduction in
signal strength will be 100 fold.

> This is my primary question, and is interesting regardless of what degree
> you suppose mobile phones to be dangerous.

EM signals at mobile phone frequencies are relatively harmless.  DNA
absorbs maximmally at 260 nm, the UV range, so if you're worried about
cancer, it's the EM radiation coming down from the sky that should
concern you.

http://www.radres.org/rare_151_05_0513.pdf

Martin