Can your phone give you cancer, 5g ?

[Cosmick]

Good article on ABC by Dr Karl on the electromagnetic spectrum.

 

 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2019-08-28/is-5g-safe-dr-karl-radiation-explainer/11416070 

 

 

[Yenn]

I have a lot of respect for Dr Karl, but when anyone in authority says don't worry, I am sceptical. We have heard for a long time that there is no scientific proof of this or that, only to later find that the proof is there, we just didn't know.

 

This is especially true with medical matters.

 

I hardly ever use a mobile phone, it is no use to me if it is not reliable reception wise at home, so I need the landline. I doubt that I will ever need 5G

 

 

[facthunter]

Phones create enormous stress .( Try getting one to work reliably.)  and that's a prime cause of cancer.. Nev

 

 

[Yenn]

I have a cure for the stress. I seldom use the phone and let my wife take all the stress.

 

What really pisses me off is the fact that my Nikon SLR does not work as a phone.

 

 

[spacesailor]

I took the battery out of the Pentax-slr camera, and take photos with the 5 MEG CAMERA PHONE.

 

Just needs a longer focal-length,

 

SPACESAILOR

 

 

[ClintonB]

Got upgraded to 5g Samsung only 2 months after they supplied a Samsung S10+. Found no real benefit even when in Sydney, does not fit my VR gear by 1/8”, does not fit in the otter box protectors. Also gets very hot in your pocket when not in use. 

 

Would not recommend until all bugs fixed- then we will get 6g no doubt.

 

 

[Bruce]

Lots of things emit radiation. TV for example. Organic muesli too. If you have the right meter, you can compare things.

 

You will find that granite bench-tops are quite high, as is going out into the sunlight. TV's used to be quite high too, I dunno about the latest ones.

 

In SA, there was a scare about how there was more cancer in Whyalla, until it was shown that this was exactly explained by the extra hours of sunshine there.

 

So... your phone emits radiation, and this might give you cancer.

 

Bugger, this is making me need a beer....  but whoa! there is radiation in my beer, plus some cancerous chemical.

 

 

[facthunter]

Beer makes you fall over too as well as talk rubbish just before you do. I thought I might get a geiger counter, because nothing else I do seems to count for much.  Where would one get one?  Nev

 

 

[willedoo]

Beer makes you fall over too as well as talk rubbish just before you do. I thought I might get a geiger counter, because nothing else I do seems to count for much.  Where would one get one?  Nev

 

About $100 on eBay,  the size of a cigarette packet, runs on two AA batteries. I collect old aircraft gauges, so that's why I bought one.

 

 

[pmccarthy]

That’s handy, I need to check my rock collection. Some uranium samples there somewhere but I forget what they look like.

 

 

[willedoo]

That’s handy, I need to check my rock collection. Some uranium samples there somewhere but I forget what they look like.

 

Probably the best search term is dosimeter which seems to be used more commonly than geiger counter. If you use them around old aircraft with the audio on, it pays to do some research first so you don't scare yourself needlessly. For example, a lot of old radium paint gauges will read 300 to 600 times background atmospheric levels. Turbines with thorium compressor cases read about 600 times. A couple of examples like the Mirage 111's Snecma, and the Macchi's Viper engine are like that. RR Avons, Nenes etc. don't have any thorium; luckily most engines don't.

 

But the readings are all relevant and sound worse than what they are. Those readings are directly at the face of the engine case or gauge. If you pull the counter back a foot or two, it could drop from 600x to 10x. Let's say you're flying an old warbird with some radium gauges. If you take a reading back where your body is, it might only show 10x background reading. That's not a dosage that causes any harmful effect or increased cancer risk. It just adds to your lifetime accumulated dose. If you fly the plane for an hour, you could accumulate the same dose as eating ten bananas. If you have 1000 hours up in that plane and die at 90 years of age exactly, you will die with the same accumulated dose as someone who lived to 90years+eight months. That's provided you flew that 1,000 hours with no clothes on so you absorb what the counter reads, otherwise it would be a much smaller difference.

 

So if you ever see anyone roaring around in a T6 Texan in the nuddy, give them a gentle reminder. That's the relativity of it. Geiger counters sound scarier than what they actually are. The big thing is, never ever open up an old gauge without breathing protection. And if the glass is cracked, I'd toss it. Radiated gamma rays are one thing, but breathing alpha particles (broken down radium paint residue or dust) will do tissue damage. Alpha particles generally won't penetrate your skin, but soft tissue like inside the lung is vulnerable.

 

 

[facthunter]

They reckon plutonium is one of the worst substances. One microgram anywhere and you suffer. Nev

 

 

[willedoo]

They reckon plutonium is one of the worst substances. One microgram anywhere and you suffer. Nev

 

Sounds bad Nev. I don't know much about plutonium, always assumed us average blokes would never encounter it.

 

In aviation, I guess all we have is radium, thorium and asbestos to worry about. And most places won't use two pack paint any more, so what other nasties are out there in the aviation sphere to take note of?

 

 

[facthunter]

Everyone in high flying jets gets radon gas? I think. The airlines don't mention it though. Flight crew get more of certain cancers than "Normal" people because of it. Some business jets have special filters fitted. Nev

 

 

[willedoo]

I know the radiation risk is higher the higher and longer you go. Didn't  know it was radon, but it makes sense. I think it's radon that seeps out of the ground and certain rocks like granite.  I read somewhere once about the high risk to cosmonauts and astronauts; I think they might have career limitations in regard to total logged space time. Makes going to Mars a big issue.

 

 

[Yenn]

Radon is prevalent in some natural rocks. Can be excessive in cellars in he USA.

 

I think it was illegal to own a Geiger counter without government approval in Australia, although that law may have been repealed. In the same way it was illegal to take aerial photos vertically, they had to be oblique shots.

 

One of the lowest radiation areas I have been in was a US submarine. The radiation inside the sub was less than the natural radiation on the wharf where it was moored. I wasn't allowed into the propulsion area, so that may have been high.

 

The SES were used to monitor radiation and I happened to be there at the time the sub sailed. What a fiasco. One of the things they didn't want was for their mooring lines to get wet. A couple of Aussie sailors and myself attached their 6mm heaving line to the mooring line, wrapped it several times round a bollard and started paying out to the US sailors. Along come the wharfies and insisted that was their job. took the 6mm line undid the turns round the bollard, found they couldn't hold on and promptly dropped about 15m of 150mm or so mooring line in the water.