/gen do things like WiFi or Bluetooth or things like that affect us physically at all?

@elisa From what I've heard, of the many credible studies that have investigated this, not really. And that's not to say that they took everything into consideration or that every study is perfect but...

So let's talk types of radiation. There's the kind where particles are flying off radioactive substances and giving you cancer, and then there's electromagnetic, which, depending on the type can also give you cancer or burn you. As we're all taught in school, the electromagnetic spectrum encompasses all visible light and wavelengths beyond visible at both the higher and lower ends.

Past the higher frequency side of the visible spectrum is ionizing radiation such as x-rays and gamma rays, which do cause cancer because their size allows them to enter cells and knock particles off of molecules of DNA, among other things. Another sign of mutations in DNA caused by radiation are moles on your skin, which is why excessive tanning can cause moles just like it causes cancer.

Past the lower frequency side is infrared, radio, microwave, etc., which have not been shown to cause cancer but can still be weaponized in high amounts.

A microwave oven works because water is extremely opaque to microwave radiation, just like a conventional oven works because most things are opaque to infrared radiation, and so the energy gets absorbed and released as heat.

There used to be directional data transmission towers transmitting in microwave frequencies many decades ago, and if anyone stood between the beams they would get burned.

There's a military "crowd control" weapon which is a directional microwave beam to burn people's legs etc.

WiFi and Bluetooth span many frequencies, the most conventional one being microwave.

Even the sun and campfires emit at microwave frequencies.

Point being I'm pretty sure it's only dangerous if it's about to give you heat stroke or burns, at which point you'll definitely be feeling it well ahead of time.

@TheCoolest
@elisa yeah as far as wifi or Bluetooth itself goes

There is theoretically an impact, but the power involved is so low that it is barely noticeable even in direct contact with the antenna (which could be warm to the touch, basically)

What might be impacted sooner is pace makers, but wireless communications devices generally come with warnings on how to use it safely with those

the strength of the electric field (which is what is absorbed by your body) also very quickly loses strength. If you double your distance from an antenna, the power you absorb is quartered

@charlotte @TheCoolest the theoretically part is what made me wonder, like would there be something noticeable after an amount of time. Like will the kiddos have a new something after 80 yrs of being blasted by all these waves? But it seems like we’ve been being blasted by waves for a long time, so probably not!

@elisa @TheCoolest it’s theoretical because the effect just isn’t measurable. the body is also designed to compensate for heat in the body, and that little bit of heat from absorbed radio waves can be compensated for with no issues

@charlotte @TheCoolest so interesting!! Thank you!!

@elisa @charlotte yeah I'm going to say probably not. The "potentially slight" impact being the radiation turning to heat energy, that is just a warming effect, and being warm doesn't really... have cumulative effects over time like that unless you're perpetually risking heat stroke, in which case you'd definitely feel it in the moment. If you're not warm you're not warm.

@TheCoolest
@elisa a typical adult human dissipates about 80W of heat at rest, and significantly more when doing any sort of physical activity

A wifi transmitter legally maxes out at 1W which even if you could fully absorb that (not even close) would really only cause issues if you were already suffering from overheating-treated problems

@charlotte @elisa though I wouldn't be surprised if there were some mad science youtuber who invented a high-power WiFi router so they could cook food with... Netflix?

@charlotte @elisa though for context a microwave oven is usually 800-1200 watts so we'd need to get about 1000x more power than usual running through that WiFi router in order to microwave a pizza pop...

@TheCoolest
@elisa I thought we were talking about normal deployments of it

I think the issue is that with normal wifi systems the signal starts distorting relatively quickly above the standard maximum transmit power

Amateur radio systems can significantly exceed 1W though but operators do have to ensure they maintain a safe distance between the antenna and bystanders

@charlotte @elisa we were talking about normal deployments but I also like to have fun imagining weird hypotheticals

@TheCoolest
@elisa the transmission power is also concentrated in a pill shape around a typical wifi antenna which makes heating things at full blast hard

The interior of the microwave is reflective to microwaves not just to limit disruption to radio devices, but also to maximize the potential of the radiation. It is spaced perfectly to create standing waves, which constructively interfere with each other (this is also why there's a rotating tray, without it there'd also be cold spots)