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> What happens if we let people modify their microwaves and a terrorist uses his to give kids cancer!?!? I know this was said in jest, but given the (generally

> What happens if we let people modify their microwaves and a terrorist uses his to give kids cancer!?!? I know this was said in jest, but given the (generally unfounded) fears some people have about microwaves and cellphones I want to point out that exposure to unshielded microwave radiation isn't going to cause cancer (at least not any more than anything else that heats you up could somehow cause cancer) because microwave radiation is non-ionizing; you would need at least ultraviolet light for that (and UV-C or X-rays would be most effective). The biggest danger with strong microwave radiation would be boiling your eyeballs as they lack the cooling most of your body has but contain significant amounts of water.

gthtjtkt 10y ago
Good to know, now I'll have something to say to my mom the next time tells me to back away from the microwave while it's on...
snissn 10y ago
have you looked into 5G signals? I was recently reading about how they plan to make them in the 50GHz range, which to me seems potentially dangerous
- alexbock 10y ago
  50 GHz is still significantly less energetic than visible light, which is in the hundreds of terahertz. The sun bombards us with a lot of visible light, but you have to get into the blue/violet/ultraviolet region before it's energetic enough (high enough frequency) to cause damage. Barring some strange and previously unknown special biological interaction with a particular radio frequency, radio signals which have lower frequencies and lower intensities than visible light from the sun are not going to cause cancer any more than exposure to red or green light would cause cancer.
mountaineer22 10y ago
What about cooking the marrow in bone?
- Dylan16807 10y ago
  If that's not a weird joke, I really want to hear why you think marrow is going to absorb more microwaves than any other part of your body. Because it won't, it's an overall heat like sitting in a sauna. At low power it's warm, past that it's unpleasant, past that you have heat stroke.
  - gohrt 10y ago
    bone marrow is one of the parts of the body that has high water content and thus would heat faster than others under radiation. Sauna heat does not preferentially target liquid for heating.
    - Dylan16807 10y ago
      Almost all of your body is high water content, and the heat will easily conduct the last little bit. By the time you have to worry about specific non-brain parts being overheated, your overall temperature is such that you're braindead.
      - icebraining 10y ago
        Actually, no, you can easily sustain heavy damage to certain organs without being brain-dead: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microwave_burn https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microwave_burn
        Dylan16807 10y ago
        I should have chosen my words to be more focused, I suppose. You can damage certain organs. You will not be cooking deep internal organs with an unshielded microwave. Not without cooking everything else. Pretend my original comment ended with "Past that, you basically fell in a fire and it doesn't matter what is heating you." Is there anything wrong with that? Or the rejection of the idea that bone marrow is at risk?

gthtjtkt 10y ago

Good to know, now I'll have something to say to my mom the next time tells me to back away from the microwave while it's on...

snissn 10y ago

have you looked into 5G signals? I was recently reading about how they plan to make them in the 50GHz range, which to me seems potentially dangerous

alexbock 10y ago
50 GHz is still significantly less energetic than visible light, which is in the hundreds of terahertz. The sun bombards us with a lot of visible light, but you have to get into the blue/violet/ultraviolet region before it's energetic enough (high enough frequency) to cause damage. Barring some strange and previously unknown special biological interaction with a particular radio frequency, radio signals which have lower frequencies and lower intensities than visible light from the sun are not going to cause cancer any more than exposure to red or green light would cause cancer.

mountaineer22 10y ago

What about cooking the marrow in bone?

Dylan16807 10y ago
If that's not a weird joke, I really want to hear why you think marrow is going to absorb more microwaves than any other part of your body. Because it won't, it's an overall heat like sitting in a sauna. At low power it's warm, past that it's unpleasant, past that you have heat stroke.
- gohrt 10y ago
  bone marrow is one of the parts of the body that has high water content and thus would heat faster than others under radiation. Sauna heat does not preferentially target liquid for heating.
  - Dylan16807 10y ago
    Almost all of your body is high water content, and the heat will easily conduct the last little bit. By the time you have to worry about specific non-brain parts being overheated, your overall temperature is such that you're braindead.
    - icebraining 10y ago
      Actually, no, you can easily sustain heavy damage to certain organs without being brain-dead: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microwave_burn https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microwave_burn
      - Dylan16807 10y ago
        I should have chosen my words to be more focused, I suppose. You can damage certain organs. You will not be cooking deep internal organs with an unshielded microwave. Not without cooking everything else. Pretend my original comment ended with "Past that, you basically fell in a fire and it doesn't matter what is heating you." Is there anything wrong with that? Or the rejection of the idea that bone marrow is at risk?