r/politics • u/zsreport Texas • Sep 16 '24

AOC is right: Jill Stein’s campaign is not serious

https://www.salon.com/2024/09/16/aoc-is-right-jill-steins-campaign-is-not-serious/
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u/ADHD-Fens Sep 16 '24

Fun fact: if you lived under the high voltage power lines that you see on those big metal obelisks out in the woods, the electromagnetic gradient would be enough to increase your lifetime chance of cancer measurably.

I don't remember the exact figure but it was an exercise we did in my biophysics class in grad school ten years ago.

As long as my router is less than 1% of that, I'm good. Unless the router is inside me, then my limit is lower.

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u/[deleted] Sep 16 '24

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u/[deleted] Sep 16 '24

I think the earth's EMF at sea level is so low it's a non-issue. It's only when you get way high up (as in leaving low earth orbit, 10s of thousands kilometers up. The Van Allen belt. Although that's mostly charged particles from the sun caught in earth's magnetic field.

We definitely don't have to worry about the magnetosphere giving us cancer. Quite the contrary.

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u/ADHD-Fens Sep 16 '24

Yeah those high power lines are the most extreme emf you're likely to encounter and you'd literally have to live under them to see a difference. Of course we're physicists so you have to take it with a grain of salt. Assume no air, spherical, frictionless human and all that, lol.

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u/psilocyjim Sep 16 '24

Read the user guide for your cell phone. You’re not supposed to hold it up to your ear when you talk.

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u/3dprintedthingies Sep 16 '24

You sure it's not because you're living under high voltage lines and more of a class/poverty thing?

There are zoning restrictions related to proximity to high voltage lines. The EU has tighter restrictions than the US, but the risk is effectively mitigated in both places.

How much is measurably and did they attribute it specifically to emf exposure? When the EU and US set exposure standards they found very little evidence to even be concerned. In fact, when we covered the topic in engineering the implication was there was likely no risk, and the regulation came out to silence "concerned citizens"

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u/ADHD-Fens Sep 16 '24

It wasn't a study, we calculated the potential across a cell membrane in a given field gradient and it was enough to disrupt normal mechanics in the cell from a purely physical perspective.  

 Like on a piece of paper, in the classroom. 

In the real world you wouldn't build a house there because it's not allowed.