Radiation in cellphones compared to an Xray

[Hypersynergy]

Hey!

So me and a friend were having an argument:

Do cellphones cause cancer as a result of the radiation?

 

I remember hearing somewhere, true or not, that a single Xray exam will give you more radiation than a cellphone will in your entire life.

 

If this were true, it could be used as an argument, but i had to crunch numbers to be sure.

So I found how much radiation comes from different cellphone units, which is in W/kg

 

http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2011/06/tech/table.phone.radiation/index.html

(This post says the most legal amount is 1.6 W/kg, so lets do worst case)

 

Then I found the radiation in an Xray, measured in mSv

 

http://www.radiologyinfo.org/en/info.cfm?pg=safety-xray

 

Great. So now I had

 

1.6 W/kg cellphone

10 mSv XRay

 

But to properly compare them, I need to convert them to a common unit. Lets use mSv

 

http://www.translatorscafe.com/cafe/EN/units-converter/radiation/20-22/watt%2Fkilogram-millisievert%2Fyear/

 

50492160000!? Woah okay, this seems wrong.

So after browsing the internet for a bit I found the gray scale

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gray_(unit)

 

This is an exact amount of radiation, taking in no other context or variables. (I think)

So, lets use this as the common unit using the same converter as before.

 

These are my results:

 

1.6 Gray cellphone

3.168 Gray Xray

 

Great! So, what do these numbers mean?

 

This is where I fall short and help is needed!

I'm not really sure what these numbers mean, and need help.

 

If you can provide answers, please do!

 

-Hypersynergy

[StringJunky]

X-rays are ionising and microwaves from phones are not. What this means is that x-rays can cause atoms to lose electrons and open them up to reacting with some other atoms that may be in the neighbourhood and potentially cause problems with cellular replication by altering parts of their DNA. Microwaves warm things up if they are the right frequency but don't do this greatly in phones.

[Sensei]

If this were true, it could be used as an argument, but i had to crunch numbers to be sure.

So I found how much radiation comes from different cellphone units, which is in W/kg

There is more radiation coming from your human body..

 

Do you saw how things, animals and people looks like in IR camera?

They are emitting radiation, photons in infrared and microwave spectrum, which depends on their temperature.

The more hot object, the higher energy photons it is emitting.

 

(This post says the most legal amount is 1.6 W/kg, so lets do worst case)

And Sun is emitting 1370 W/m²..

Nobody would live on the Earth without radiation from the Sun.

Radiation is not the same as radioactivity, while they sound similar for layman.

 

Then I found the radiation in an Xray, measured in mSv

x-ray radiation can be recorded by cameras as white spots. As you can see here:

 

But to properly compare them, I need to convert them to a common unit.

No. You can't compare effects of 1 W of x-ray photons, with 1 W of visible photons, or with 1 W microwave photons.

 

If you have 1 W it's 1 J per second.

Energy of photon is E=h*f=h*c/wavelength

 

Sum energy of n photons Etotal = Ephoton1 + Ephoton2 + Ephoton[n]

 

The more energy single photon has the less photons are needed to have 1 J of their total energy.

[AshBox]

Hey, I come across this two facts. I hope this will help you to find out perfect answer.

 

https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/radiation/cell-phones-fact-sheet

 

Another fact is, the potential health risk associated with any device that emits electromagnetic energy also depends on the nature of the radiation, specifically, its frequency.X rays are a form of ionizing radiation. Since the radiation from mobile phones can’t break chemical bonds, it can’t cause a mutation to the DNA molecules in our cells, and therefore most scientists agree it can’t cause the damage that leads to cancer.

[StringJunky]

Hey, I come across this two facts. I hope this will help you to find out perfect answer.

 

https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/radiation/cell-phones-fact-sheet

 

Another fact is, the potential health risk associated with any device that emits electromagnetic energy also depends on the nature of the radiation, specifically, its frequency.X rays are a form of ionizing radiation. Since the radiation from mobile phones can’t break chemical bonds, it can’t cause a mutation to the DNA molecules in our cells, and therefore most scientists agree it can’t cause the damage that leads to cancer.

This is what I posted

[AshBox]

This is what I posted

I have also provided one link which is related to this topic in brief. I hope you will also enjoy that extra information.

[StringJunky]

I have also provided one link which is related to this topic in brief. I hope you will also enjoy that extra information.

I'm familiar with the different types of EMR but thanks anyway.

Edited December 27, 2016 by StringJunky