Debunking The Myth: Cellphones Pop Popcorn
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgjx4JROjR4
This video (and others) supposedly allege that 4 cellphones placed around some popcorn seeds will pop the seeds due to the RF output heating them like a microwave oven.
Let's look at some facts:
From Wikipedia: "The radio waves emitted by a GSM handset, can have a peak power of 2 watts, and a US analogue phone had a maximum transmit power of 3.6 watts. Other digital mobile technologies, such as CDMA2000 and D-AMPS, use lower output power, typically below 1 watt."
So we're looking at an RF output of between 1 and 2 watts for todays phones. Notice that it mentions "peak power". Cellphones do not continually transmit, but transmit "packets" of digital data in bursts. If you consider this, the average RF output power even at full tilt is much, much less still. This is why the battery can last as long as it does on a modern phone, but die in minutes when it switches over to analog roaming mode.
Let's look at the accepted method of popcorn cooking: The microwave oven. Microwave ovens typically produce between 500 and 1500 watts of RF output. But have you ever looked inside a popcorn bag? That dark area on the bag is a microwave target, designed to soak up RF and turn it into heat. IE, even at 1000+ watts RMS (average) power, designers have placed a RF sensitive patch in the bag to more effectively heat the popcorn seeds!
I agree with this physicist: http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2008/06/cellphones-cant.html Its a hoax!
This video (and others) supposedly allege that 4 cellphones placed around some popcorn seeds will pop the seeds due to the RF output heating them like a microwave oven.
Let's look at some facts:
From Wikipedia: "The radio waves emitted by a GSM handset, can have a peak power of 2 watts, and a US analogue phone had a maximum transmit power of 3.6 watts. Other digital mobile technologies, such as CDMA2000 and D-AMPS, use lower output power, typically below 1 watt."
So we're looking at an RF output of between 1 and 2 watts for todays phones. Notice that it mentions "peak power". Cellphones do not continually transmit, but transmit "packets" of digital data in bursts. If you consider this, the average RF output power even at full tilt is much, much less still. This is why the battery can last as long as it does on a modern phone, but die in minutes when it switches over to analog roaming mode.
Let's look at the accepted method of popcorn cooking: The microwave oven. Microwave ovens typically produce between 500 and 1500 watts of RF output. But have you ever looked inside a popcorn bag? That dark area on the bag is a microwave target, designed to soak up RF and turn it into heat. IE, even at 1000+ watts RMS (average) power, designers have placed a RF sensitive patch in the bag to more effectively heat the popcorn seeds!
I agree with this physicist: http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2008/06/cellphones-cant.html Its a hoax!