# Active Denial System crowd control device works by microwaving people's skin. Seems very dangerous
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/active-denial-system-crowd-control-device-works-by-microwaving-peoples-skin-seems-very-dangerous/750319
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [March 27, 2016, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/active-denial-system-crowd-control-device-works-by-microwaving-peoples-skin-seems-very-dangerous/750319 "2016-03-27T07:58:09Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2016, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/active-denial-system-crowd-control-device-works-by-microwaving-peoples-skin-seems-very-dangerous/750319/1 "2016-03-27T07:58:09Z")
Described in [this article](https://www.vice.com/read/crowd-control-v23n1) and in [this wiki.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_Denial_System). This works by irradiating the surface layer of human skin so that intense heat based pain is generated. It’s basically cooking you.
As a battlefield weapon maybe, but crowd control? Really? The potential for permanent harm looms huge. Little kids get in the way? Cooking your eyeballs? If you fall and can’t move and it continues to cook you? You have piercings and you will get charred at the point where they touch flesh? The liability would seem to be insane.
What kind of liability insurance would a police dept have to have to implement this?
> [@](#):
>
> The ADS works by firing a high-powered beam of 95 GHz waves at a target, which corresponds to a wavelength of 3.2 mm.[13] The ADS millimeter wave energy works on a similar principle as a microwave oven, exciting the water and fat molecules in the skin, and instantly heating them via dielectric heating. One significant difference is that a microwave oven uses the much lower frequency (and longer wavelength) of 2.45 GHz. The short millimeter waves used in ADS only penetrate the top layers of skin, with most of the energy being absorbed within 0.4 mm (1/64"),[14] whereas microwaves will penetrate into human tissue about 17 mm (0.67").[15]
>
> The ADS’s repel effect in humans occurs at slightly higher than 44 °C (111 °F), though first-degree burns occur at about 51 °C (124 °F), and second-degree burns occur at about 58 °C (136 °F).[16] In testing, pea-sized blisters have been observed in less than 0.1% of ADS exposures, indicating that second degree surface burns have been caused by the device.[16] The radiation burns caused are similar to microwave burns, but only on the skin surface due to the decreased penetration of shorter millimeter waves. The surface temperature of a target will continue to rise so long as the beam is applied, at a rate dictated by the target’s material and distance from the transmitter, along with the beam’s frequency and power level set by the operator. Most human test subjects reached their pain threshold within 3 seconds, and none could endure more than 5 seconds.[17]
>
> A spokesman for the Air Force Research Laboratory described his experience as a test subject for the system: “For the first millisecond, it just felt like the skin was warming up. Then it got warmer and warmer and you felt like it was on fire. … As soon as you’re away from that beam your skin returns to normal and there is no pain.”
> Like all focused energy, the beam will irradiate all matter in the targeted area, including everything beyond/behind it that is not shielded, with no possible discrimination between individuals, objects or materials. Anyone incapable of leaving the target area (e.g., physically handicapped, infants, incapacitated, trapped, etc.) would continue to receive radiation until the operator turned off the beam. Reflective materials such as aluminium cooking foil should reflect this radiation and could be used to make clothing that would be protective against this radiation.[18]
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### Author:  [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2016, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/active-denial-system-crowd-control-device-works-by-microwaving-peoples-skin-seems-very-dangerous/750319/2 "2016-03-27T09:55:59Z")
Most crowd/riot control options have a potential for harm - tear gas and pepper spray, for example, can trigger asthmatic reactions with the usual risks of harm and death for severe cases. Rubber bullets can blind and sometimes kill. And so on.
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### Author:  [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2016, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/active-denial-system-crowd-control-device-works-by-microwaving-peoples-skin-seems-very-dangerous/750319/3 "2016-03-27T10:02:26Z")
It sounds like you didn’t read your own link. The beam appears to be painful, but doesn’t penetrate the skin deep enough to actually “cook” you.
Although it would also appear to make tinfoil hats an actual practical countermeasure.
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### Author:  [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2016, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/active-denial-system-crowd-control-device-works-by-microwaving-peoples-skin-seems-very-dangerous/750319/4 "2016-03-27T10:36:54Z")
I read the link - if you keep the beam on a person long enough it seems like it could cause at least second degree burns (pea-sized blisters were mentioned) and people who physically can’t move out of the way, like infants, the disabled, etc. are at risk of such a thing.
So… the actions of the operator are a factor. If you had a sadist or an incompetent I could see people getting burned.
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### Author:  [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2016, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/active-denial-system-crowd-control-device-works-by-microwaving-peoples-skin-seems-very-dangerous/750319/5 "2016-03-27T10:59:42Z")
When Law And Order become the primary focus of government, nothing is off the table. Plenty of historical precedents.
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2016, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/active-denial-system-crowd-control-device-works-by-microwaving-peoples-skin-seems-very-dangerous/750319/6 "2016-03-27T12:07:05Z")
The scoops are coming!! The scoops are coming!!
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### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2016, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/active-denial-system-crowd-control-device-works-by-microwaving-peoples-skin-seems-very-dangerous/750319/7 "2016-03-27T12:42:28Z")
I always hated raw Soylent Green.
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### Author:  [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2016, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/active-denial-system-crowd-control-device-works-by-microwaving-peoples-skin-seems-very-dangerous/750319/8 "2016-03-27T13:38:34Z")
Image of Trump protester year of our lord 2020:
[http://fantasy-faction.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/2012-JUL-Comic-Con-Cage-Guy-207x300.jpg](http://fantasy-faction.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/2012-JUL-Comic-Con-Cage-Guy-207x300.jpg)
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### Author:  [@Whiskey\_Dickens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whiskey_Dickens)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2016, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/active-denial-system-crowd-control-device-works-by-microwaving-peoples-skin-seems-very-dangerous/750319/9 "2016-03-28T15:01:01Z")
> [@astro](#):
>
> Described in [this article](https://www.vice.com/read/crowd-control-v23n1) and in [this wiki.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_Denial_System). This works by **irradiating** the surface layer of human skin so that intense heat based pain is generated. It’s basically cooking you.
Snipped 'n bolded.
Electromagnetic waves are a type of radiation, but when I hear “irradiated” I usually think high-energy particles that are being emitted.
This is just electromagnetic waves which don’t have any of the nasty after effects of high-energy particles. This is no different than the mechanism sunlight uses to transfer heat.
Minor nitpick. 🙂