The ability of radiation to cause cancer is dependent on whether or not the radiation is able to alter chemical bonds. This occurs when electrons involved in bonding in a molecule absorb radiation with enough energy to allow them to escape – this is called ionization. The thing is, whether or not radiation is ionizing is based solely on its energy, not on its number, and as we saw above, its energy is determined entirely from its frequency.
Cool article on WordPress.com about Why Cell Phones Can’t Cause Cancer, But Bananas Can, which I read while eating (and finishing) a banana. It covers dielectric heating too.
Nice post Matt, I’ve been following the conversation for about 10 years. I myself error on the side of precaution. If you have a moment you might want to read this http://bit.ly/1z9MQoW or if you have time to watch the movie http://bit.ly/1IjCGEa
Thanks for posting the subject matter, it is something we should all be talking about : )
Er well you’re a coder and not a physicist so you can be excused some errors. You do have the quantization effect understood but you’ve skipped your RF classes. Microwaves would have used the band used by 800MHz cell phones except it was taken. It in fact was the best band for heating via jiggling the water content of said item.
So you can understand why an old RF whore of a friend of mine said “if you plan on talking on your cell phone for long periods you should use a headset”
Probably true. I do by the way.
That is to say you might do a slight brazing of your brain. Or not. Headsets are just cheap!