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Dangerous Wavelengths
and Frequencies
Which Wavelengths and Frequencies
Are Most Dangerous?
By John
Papiewski
Electromagnetic
radiation, found in a wide range of wavelengths and frequencies in the
electromagnetic spectrum, includes visible light, radio, television signals,
microwaves and X-rays.
Generally,
radiation with wavelengths much shorter than visible light have enough energy
to strip electrons from atoms.
Scientists
call this ionizing radiation.
In
general, the shorter the wavelength, the greater the danger to living things.
Although
longer wavelengths also have their hazards, very short wavelengths, such as
X-rays and gamma rays, can easily damage living tissue.
TL;DR (Too Long; Didn't Read)
The most dangerous frequencies of electromagnetic energy are
X-rays, gamma rays, ultraviolet light and microwaves.
X-rays,
gamma rays and UV light can damage living tissues, and microwaves can cook
them.
The Power of
X-Rays
X-rays have wavelengths ranging from .001 to 10 nanometers,
or billionths of a meter.
These
waves are smaller than an atom and can pass through most materials as sunlight
passes through glass.
Although
X-rays have many beneficial applications, using them requires caution since
exposure can cause blindness, cancer and other injuries.
X-rays
once had novelty uses, such as the shoe-store gadgets that let you see your
foot inside a shoe to judge how well it fits.
These
devices have long since been outlawed. Today, states require licenses to
operate X-ray devices.
Ultraviolet
Light
Ultraviolet, or UV, light gets its name from the fact that
its wavelengths are shorter than violet visible light.
Its
wavelengths lie in the range of 10 to 350 nanometers and come in several bands,
such as UVA and UVB.
The
sunlight that reaches the Earth’s surface has naturally-occurring amounts of
UV.
Too
much can cause sunburn, skin cancer, and retinal damage.
Hospitals
use shorter-wavelength UV to kill germs in the air, and sewer treatment plants
use it to kill bacteria in liquid waste.
Light
from a germicidal UV lamp can cause blindness if you look directly at it.
Because
it has longer wavelengths than X-rays, UV causes less damage to tissue, but
even so, it is still not completely safe.
Gamma Rays
Beyond X-rays are even shorter wavelengths called gamma
rays.
Nuclear
processes in atoms produce this kind of radiation, which has more energy and
greater penetrating power than X-rays.
Food
producers use gamma ray devices to kill mold, germs, and parasites in fruits
and vegetables.
People
can work with gamma radiation only behind thick lead shielding.
Microwaves
Excite Molecules
Although microwaves have wavelengths too long to be ionizing,
the power in microwaves can make them dangerous.
Microwaves
have wavelengths between .01 and 5 centimeters, much longer than those of
visible light.
They
produce heat by causing certain molecules, like water, to vibrate strongly.
Cell
phones and other gadgets emit microwaves although they are generally considered
too weak to affect living tissue.
Your
microwave oven, on the other hand, can produce more than 1,000 watts of
microwaves and cause serious harm. Fortunately, microwaves are easily shielded.
About
the Author
Chicago
native John Papiewski has a physics
degree and has been writing since 1991. He has contributed to "Foresight
Update," a nanotechnology newsletter from the Foresight Institute. He also
contributed to the book, "Nanotechnology: Molecular Speculations on Global
Abundance." Please, no workplace calls/emails!
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