In this space, visitors are invited to post any comments, questions, or skeptical observations about Philo T. Farnsworth's contributions to the field of Nuclear Fusion research.Subject: My 2cent on microwaves
Date: Aug 10, 7:52 pm
Poster: Scott StephensOn Aug 10, 7:52 pm, Scott Stephens wrote:
I had considered a microwave chirped field to dynamicaly implode a plasma. Could be very usefull for diagnostics too.
As far a safety goes, I would rather work around RF than ionizing radiation. RF has simple dosimetry, is very easily detected; a light emitting diode and a loop antenna can tell you if your immediate exposure is dangerous, and a schottkey diode and meter serve as a good detector under 2GHz with the right wiring.
IIRC, under a couple GHz, no great danger of cumulative exposure exists that is now popularly known. Its thermal (cooking you gut flora, which has killed at lest one tech.). 10 GHz and above can cumulatively cause cataracts (cook your eye white, like an egg).
Pulsed RF may make it difficult to concentrate by entraining brainwaves, (take the steel case off your 300MHz pentium computer and put it on your desk near your head, and see if you don't lose your train of thought). It can leech your nerve cell calcium ions. But that is a subtle effect; the feds think they can zombify evil terrorists with ;-)
I've read some references to blood disorders & mutations. But no hard correllation (above noise), like the 1000 time correlation between leukemia and x-ray exposure for instance.
It is interesting to note that the guidlines (OSHA, IIRC) have been lowered from milliwatts per CM^2 to uW/CM^2; from thermal to non-thermal levels. But these are voluntary, so airports and military radars can continue to operate without expanding site safety zones. The Russians always recognized neurologic effects and recommended exposures under 10uW/cm^2. Don't tell the cell phone industry Scott told ya ;-)
Scott Stephens, KB9ETU