mellie
November 6th, 2008, 09:55 AM
http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/19926#more-19926
Magnetic fields are measured in milligauss, and your exposure to them multiplies exponentially with your proximity. For instance, if you’re standing 4 feet from your microwave while it’s busy nuking fishsticks, you’re getting between 3 and 8 milligauss. At 12 inches, it’s up to 80. And if you’re standing at the entirely unreasonable distance of 1.2 inches from your microwave, it’s arguably nuking you, too, with up to 2,000 milligauss.
But is that a lot? For comparison’s sake, here are the 1.2 inch exposures of other household appliances:
Clothes washer: 400
Electric range: 2,000
Flourescent lamp: 4,000
Television: 500
Hair dryer: up to 20,000
Considering that a hair dryer can be five times stronger than a microwave, and you’re much more likely to hold one just inches from your head, perhaps there’s reason to limit exposure. (But keep in mind, exposure drops off radically with distance: at 12 inches, that same hair dryer’s only giving you 70 milligauss.)
Another bit of comparison: if you’re standing directly under heavy-duty buzzing power transmission lines, you’re only receiving about 300 milligauss — the equivalent of sitting on top of your washing machine while it’s on its spin cycle.
Magnetic fields are measured in milligauss, and your exposure to them multiplies exponentially with your proximity. For instance, if you’re standing 4 feet from your microwave while it’s busy nuking fishsticks, you’re getting between 3 and 8 milligauss. At 12 inches, it’s up to 80. And if you’re standing at the entirely unreasonable distance of 1.2 inches from your microwave, it’s arguably nuking you, too, with up to 2,000 milligauss.
But is that a lot? For comparison’s sake, here are the 1.2 inch exposures of other household appliances:
Clothes washer: 400
Electric range: 2,000
Flourescent lamp: 4,000
Television: 500
Hair dryer: up to 20,000
Considering that a hair dryer can be five times stronger than a microwave, and you’re much more likely to hold one just inches from your head, perhaps there’s reason to limit exposure. (But keep in mind, exposure drops off radically with distance: at 12 inches, that same hair dryer’s only giving you 70 milligauss.)
Another bit of comparison: if you’re standing directly under heavy-duty buzzing power transmission lines, you’re only receiving about 300 milligauss — the equivalent of sitting on top of your washing machine while it’s on its spin cycle.