Am I going to get “electrical radiation” from living a block away from my city’s power plant? A friend told me not to live there because all those residents are “a little crazy” due to the radiation.
Does he live next to a power plant? Sounds like he’s the crazy one…
Welcome to the SDMB, boulder2. I’d suggest, to either confirm or allay your fears, that you find data from the local health authority in the area to see if there have been any increased instances of mental or physical ill-health in that area.
I doubt you’d find any related specifically to electro-magnetic radiation from the power plant, but before getting too alarmed, I’d research the facts first.
Haha, no he doesn’t, but he claims to have lots of weird friends who live around there. Maybe he is the crazy one; he tried to convince me last night that every house is haunted, because animals and humans have died in basically every spot on the earth.
No, but you can become elliptical if you live next to a power plant and face in the same direction all the time. It’s due to the strong magnetic fields.
Peace,
mangeorge
Might play hell with sharpening the razor blades inside those pyramids, too.
I don’t know if this applies to this situation but we have underground cable coming into a box in our side yard (illiminates overhead lines). We have had trouble with fire ants getting into the box, because they like the voltage. It is only 240, but they like it so much that they have shorted out our system. If an ant can crawl around on the live lines, why couldn’t you live next door to a power plant without harm?
Ok, we talked about this in physics class. It’s true that moving currents created magnetic fields. However, not only are magnetic fields mostly harmless, but they are very weak near power lines. If you do the math, the magnetic field near a power line is less than the Earth’s natural magnetic field.
"No, but you can become elliptical if you live next to a power plant and face in the same direction all the time. It’s due to the strong magnetic fields.
Peace,
mangeorge
"
What does that mean? elliptical? Are you implying that if I stand near a power plant all the time I will become magnetic? Humans are made mostly or carbon, hydrogen, etc, not magnetically reactive metals. The levels of iron in our blod are far too low to form noticable magnetics fields. Anyway,I hope someoen will come along and expand on the topic. I can’t seem to find the numbers I need to prove my claims. I seem to have forgotten how much current is typically carried in power lines and whats the Earth’s magnetic field is. Anyway,I wouldn’t worry. Guys work in power plants and live long healthy lives, so I would say living near one isn’t so bad. If anything, you should worry about air pollution, not electrical fields.
More likely the weirdos are less “affluent” and live in less “affluent” areas like near powerplants.
The thing that started the whole electro-magnetic radiation frenzy was the fact that someone (an insurance company, I believe) noticed that people who live next to high voltage power systems tend to live shorter lives than people who don’t. Many years later, and after bizillions of dollars worth of research, the only thing we can say for certain is that yes, people who live next to power lines and such don’t live as long, and we don’t really have a clue why. As my college professor pointed out, maybe the people who live more healthy lifestyles simply chose not to live next to power lines, so who knows.
But, this immense lack of knowledge has not stopped people from banning cell phones in all sorts of places where they don’t need to be banned (and allowing them in the few places where they are known to cause problems), spouting off all kinds of warnings about the dangers of “nuked” food (microwaves), and generally going into a huge frenzy about the dangers of electromagnetic radiation. People on both sides of the argument are very vocal and very much convinced they are right, and you’ll find numerous scientific studies to support either view.
Statistically, you are likely to die sooner than your friends who live farther from the higher voltages. Other than that, I’ve never heard anything about madness. Usually the claim is that it causes cancer.
No. But you might become ecclesial. The electro-magnetic fields excite the spiritual aspects of brain chemistry.
Have you been praying more lately? Bi-locating? Wearing black?
Peace.
I’m issuing a bull.
Beware that word “radiation”. Yes, you’ll be exposed to electromagnetic radiation, but then if you can pick up your local FM radio station, you already are. Don’t confuse it with being nuked.
As I recall, the mechanism by which you could be harmed is that the electromagnetic field around power lines ionises pollutant particles, making them “sticky”. That means that they attach themselves more firmly to your lungs, and are thus more harmful. However, I don’t believe this has been proved.