Electromagnetic pulse disrupt brain function?

[craig_dunn]

Hello,

I apologise if this is a bit of a daft question, but I wondered if a electrimagnetic pulse were to propogate through spacetime, wouldn't it disrupt our brain function in that our brain has an electric charge? Would it not "short circuit" and cause death?

Thanks.

[elfmotat]

Sure, a strong enough electromagnetic field could certainly disrupt brain function, though I have no idea how strong it would have to be for the changes to be noticeable.

[Enthalpy]

It is commonly used by research, and to some extent by diagnosis and therapy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcranial_magnetic_stimulation

http://www.scienceforums.net/topic/70203-transcranial-magnetic-stimulation/

 

When researchers want to halt temporarily and locally the brain activity, they have to adjust the intensity of the field. A stronger field provoques seizures.

 

Such machines are in the near-cubic-meter volume, but I believe they can be much smaller (second link above), and that they have been transformed into weapons of very few meters range to let people fall and hurt themselves. Aimed at a car driver, they could cause death.