Bouncing Microwaves
Comments: 2
Tsuyoshi Hondou, a Japanese researcher currently at the Curie Institute in Paris, thinks that mobile phone use inside trains and buses could increase radiation beyond accepted levels due to the reflectivity of the carriages. Train carriages are notoriously crowded here and it’s not unusual to see dozens of people using their phones to surf or send messages during a ride.
In the absence of testing under real conditions (surely a trivial matter in this case) the findings seem somewhat speculative, but the issue certainly demands to be taken seriously.
Cellphone radiation "trapped" in train carriages
New Scientist
Starting with plans of a typical train carriage acquired from a Japanese train operator, Hondou worked out the ratio of window area to structural metal for a typical carriage. He then used this to work out what proportion of the microwave radiation from the cellphones would be transmitted out of a carriage through the windows and how much would be reflected back inside.
Hondou then calculated how microwaves from mobile phones distributed throughout a train carriage would add together, much like light from different lamps would increase the overall illumination in a room. He found that when both reflection and the cumulative effect of the radio waves were taken into consideration, the resulting electromagnetic field in a train carriage could exceed the maximum exposure level recommended by the International Committee for Non-Ionising Radiation (ICNIRP). "It’s possible even if the train is not crowded," Hondou told New Scientist.
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Posted to General Rants • 2002.05.02 (Thu) • 21:09
Comments
Posted by fred 2003.05.18, 17:22
shit
Posted by jh 2003.05.18, 23:38
Electric trains are already putting out huge amounts of electro-magnetic frequencies. Two days ago I was on a train and happened to be standing beside a high-school student who had attached a compass to the zipper on her bag. It was one of those spherical models, where the compass has a little weight attached to the bottom of it to keep it upright as it bobs inside a globe filled with liquid.
When the train left a station, the compass would swing around almost 180 degrees, then back and forth a bit as the motors went through various stages to accelerate the train. Coming to a stop at the next station it would swing back to true orientation.
I’ve no idea what the true level of EMF is to which passengers are subjected, nor how harmful it might be. But it was certainly swinging that compass around like nobody’s business the other day.
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