Computers and radiation

SerephelSerephel
edited July 18 in Tech
Does anybody here know a lot about physics and radiation? I do not know too much.

Everybody here at my office has at least a slight concern over radiation seeping through their monitors. This has come up in multiple conversations with people before, and they've at times told me stuff like like how keeping plants near a monitor helps absorb the radiation.

I'm not too good with physics, because I haven't studied it in about 8 years or so. But I'm pretty sure it doesn't work like that.

I'm looking stuff up now online, but a lot of the websites I come across seem to talk about new-age bullshit, with one of them trying to hawk $50 Ch'i (sic) talismans to absorb radiation.

Anyone here an expert on this kind of thing? There's going to be a 90 minute seminar on maintaining good health in the office, and there's a good chance this is going to come up. I'd like to know a little more SCIENCE before I go in.
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Comments

  • brucebruce
    edited January 2009
    Well yes, computers and monitors give off radiation, everything electronic does. Everything electronic gives off Electro-Magnetic Radiation.

    But the amounts are so crazily small that you're not going to suffer any damage from it. Indeed, I think Electro-Magnetic radiation is harmless...
  • amazoxamazox
    edited January 2009
    Radiation is simply the moving of energy the type they are concerned about is uv and that is barely almost not even emitted by monitors.
  • X'o'LoreX'o'Lore
    edited January 2009
    Well, the radiation in CRT monitors could maybe be harmful? There is stuff about it on Wikipedia. Also, they contain a sigificant amount of lead. LCD montitors and radiation seem very much at odds to me. It's a totally different technology and I'd think they are quite harmless. Nothing beyond the electromagnetic radiation stuff from the electricity. Which is to my knowlege harmless.

    So in the end, CRT's could possibly be slightly harmful, but this is unlikely. You're probably in more danger of being burned from an exploding laptop battery or something silly like that.
  • Drooling IguanaDrooling Iguana
    edited January 2009
    Night Lord wrote: »
    Well yes, computers and monitors give off radiation, everything electronic does. Everything electronic gives off Electro-Magnetic Radiation.

    But the amounts are so crazily small that you're not going to suffer any damage from it. Indeed, I think Electro-Magnetic radiation is harmless...
    Actually, computer monitors give off quite a bit of electromagnetic radiation. They'd be pretty useless otherwise.

    NOTE: Visible light is a form of electromagnetic radiation.

    ANOTHER NOTE: Not all forms of electromagnetic radiation are harmless, however the stuff put out by your monitor, especially if it's an LCD monitor, is.
  • SerephelSerephel
    edited January 2009
    Thank you, very informative. So, what about the stuff that people think is harmful? Are they just misinterpreting something, or are they really reaching for a very small amount of radiation that is harmful 0.00000001% of the time?
  • ZlamzamboZlamzambo
    edited January 2009
    I have heard granite countertops give off radiation from trace amounts of uranium found in granite.
  • HamelinHamelin
    edited January 2009
    There is absolutely no proof whatsoever (and a lot of proof to the contrary) that getting your children vaccinations will make them develop autism. Anyone who believes that vaccines will do this is an idiot.
  • BehemothBehemoth
    edited January 2009
    Heat is a form of radiation. Light is a form of radiation. You need to worry about more intense, shorter wavelength radiation like UV, x-ray and gamma. Unless there is a high-voltage line running straight to your monitor, it doesn't have enough power to create harmful radiation.

    Plants next to your monitor absorbing radiation: unless the plant is positioned between you and your monitor, it's only absorbing radiation that wasn't going to hit you anyway.
  • VoltageVoltage
    edited January 2009
    Why does everyone think radiation given off by electronic devices such as cell phones causes cancer?
  • BehemothBehemoth
    edited January 2009
    Why doesn't everyone realize that flying in jets exposes them to excessive amounts of cosmic radiation and flight attendants and pilots are at a significant risk of developing cancer by the end of their career?
  • VoltageVoltage
    edited January 2009
    Jets are outdated. Have you tried teleportation?
  • Drooling IguanaDrooling Iguana
    edited January 2009
    Behemoth wrote: »
    Heat is a form of radiation. Light is a form of radiation. You need to worry about more intense, shorter wavelength radiation like UV, x-ray and gamma. Unless there is a high-voltage line running straight to your monitor, it doesn't have enough power to create harmful radiation.
    Technically, heat in itself isn't a form of radiation, however heated objects tend to produce radiation, and objects tend to heat up when absorbing radiation.
  • BehemothBehemoth
    edited January 2009
    You are absolutely correct.
  • godgod
    edited January 2009
    Voltage wrote: »
    Why does everyone think radiation given off by electronic devices such as cell phones causes cancer?
    With cell phones it's because of the frequency of the signals that the phone puts out and how close it is to the brain. I don't know of any major studies, but smaller, independant studies have shown increased risks of certain types of cancer in people who use cell phones very frequently.
  • amazoxamazox
    edited January 2009
    As I said before any energy Moving from one place to another
  • X'o'LoreX'o'Lore
    edited January 2009
    god wrote: »
    With cell phones it's because of the frequency of the signals that the phone puts out and how close it is to the brain. I don't know of any major studies, but smaller, independant studies have shown increased risks of certain types of cancer in people who use cell phones very frequently.

    I recall a study about cell phones damaging sperm or something like that. But only in send mode, and only if it's very close. So basically men who stick their cell phone in their front pocket and use a wireless headset might have issues. It was pretty sketchy and not very conclusive on that though.
  • grandbahamutgrandbahamut
    edited January 2009
    This also brings up the question of TV, too. I've heard that sitting too close to it strains, and eventually damages the eyes, and also that sitting too close can cause various forms of cancer. I think the cancer one is BS, but the eye reasoning does make a bit of sense.
    Voltage wrote:
    Why does everyone think radiation given off by electronic devices such as cell phones causes cancer?

    lots of people hear the word "radiation" and choke, since they think of UV rays, x-rays, gamma rays, and the like. It's easy to think "Radiation = baaaaaad *_*" when you've gotten the mentality that all radiation is pretty much the same, and that it all causes cancer.
  • amazoxamazox
    edited January 2009
    That is presicely what I have been trying to explain radiation is everywhere almost every one of us get exposed to 200millirads every year and it takes about 500rads to be killed so there is really nothing to worry about unless all you do is stay out in the sun for two weeks straight.
  • Drooling IguanaDrooling Iguana
    edited January 2009
    grandbahamut wrote: »
    lots of people hear the word "radiation" and choke, since they think of UV rays, x-rays, gamma rays, and the like. It's easy to think "Radiation = baaaaaad *_*" when you've gotten the mentality that all radiation is pretty much the same, and that it all causes cancer.
    Or superpowers.
  • Mish42Mish42
    edited January 2009
    I dunno, I don't ever really worry about it, but sometimes I do wonder just how many radio waves are moving through me and around me as I do something as simple as walking down a street. Or sitting at a computer. Plus I talk on my phone so much, I figure I'm going to develop some kind of weird side effect, be it cancer or some other neurological problem.

    I'll develop that at an older age, along with arthritis in my joints from not moving them enough, carpel tunnel syndrome from typing constantly and playing the violin, and lung cancer from an entire life of directly and indirectly inhaling second hand cigarette smoke. And numerous other diseases and such. Fun!

    Jeff mentioned autism, my brother is high-functioning autistic, and I really wonder if it's genetic and that, if/when I have children, my kids will be at risk. My uncle and grandfather were extremely intelligent but incredibly socially awkward, and I know that if you have one autistic child, I think you're around 6 times more likely to have a second autistic child. It's kind of what's inspiring me to look into going into neurobiology... this thing has always interested me, so hey! Why not look into making a living figuring it out, right? But I digress. Radiation is almost as bad as Nuclear Waste.
  • SerephelSerephel
    edited January 2009
    Well for the last year at least several times a week I have spent about 8-10 hours a day at work in front of a computer, and then gone home to spend four to six hours more in front of a different computer. I'm occasionally social, but many of my friends are lazy and afraid of rain, snow, and sometimes the sun if it's too strong, so I often stay home.

    I estimate I have spent roughly 4000-4500 hours or so in front of the computer since I started my life in China 11 months ago.

    Therefore, if it emits bad radiation, I'd expect to get something pretty soon. But I feel pretty good, so I'm not too worried.
  • NoLongerNoLonger
    edited January 2009
    I have a lifestyle where I sit in front of the computer for 7 or 8 hours on a normal school day. I've had this lifestyle pretty much since 5th grade, I am currently in 10th. If it could get you diseased in ANY fashion I assure you I would have gotten it by now.
  • DrLeopoldStrabismusDrLeopoldStrabismus
    edited January 2009
    NoLonger's assurance is all that I need.

    I have not seen any studies that would either prove or disprove this theory.
  • VoltageVoltage
    edited January 2009
    Either that or he's alreday turned into a zombie (or worse...a Nazi Zombie!) and he's not telling us.
  • BehemothBehemoth
    edited January 2009
    In many instances of chronic conditions caused by exposure to harmful substances, the effects are not seen until years after the exposure has actually stopped. Like all those people getting asbestosis years after retirement. It happens all the time. We don't have anyone old enough to know what the long-term effects of a lifetime of exposure to all of the radiation in our daily lives will be. We are the first generation to be exposed to this much radiation. We won't know the results until it's too late.
  • kukopankikukopanki
    edited January 2009
    Hamelin wrote: »
    There is absolutely no proof whatsoever (and a lot of proof to the contrary) that getting your children vaccinations will make them develop autism. Anyone who believes that vaccines will do this is an idiot.

    While I certainly agree, what does this have to do with radiation?
  • illithid235illithid235
    edited January 2009
    I remember when wireless internet first started being introduced. My friend and I played EverQuest heavily, and he had just gotten wireless internet. So I stood resolutely between his router and his computer and basked in the knowledge that EverQuest was running directly through me.
  • amazoxamazox
    edited January 2009
    That sounds like fun
  • SerephelSerephel
    edited January 2009
    illithid235 wrote: »
    I remember when wireless internet first started being introduced. My friend and I played EverQuest heavily, and he had just gotten wireless internet. So I stood resolutely between his router and his computer and basked in the knowledge that EverQuest was running directly through me.

    Ha! I was just thinking of you doing that a couple nights ago. I was over at a friend's house to update my version of wow, and the three of us were all in a room playing wow on their wireless router. The room's air was full to bursting of wow goodness.

    I hope it didn't give me cancer.
  • DrLeopoldStrabismusDrLeopoldStrabismus
    edited January 2009
    Thinking of you playing WoW in China, I have to ask whether you're a gold-farmer or not. X[

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