1. Highway radar was just coming into use as flashbulbs went out of use. There is probably no data on their interaction.
2. There are several cases of police being burned or having cancer induced by their use of radar and leaving the unit on for 'quick response' while sitting by the side of the highway.
3. Radar emissions can sometimes be tested by carrying a light bulb into the field and observing as it lights up. This denotes a signal strength that is above recommended levels. By then, it is probably too late. Some brain cells are dead even if you survive. At one time, it was believed that this was a 'safe' level.
This is bringing back a lot of old memories. We had a radar technician accidentally 'cook' a hand by an overdose of radar. IIRC, his hand turned red and gradually blistered. This took several hours as he gradually lost the use of the hand. Surgeons at our base had to finally amputate the hand.
This sort of thing is probably more common and less reported than is warranted.
The microwave oven was invented when a Raytheon engineer's candy bar melted in a radar lab, so you definitely don't want to be too close. But the energy attenuates over distance as it spreads to cover a greater area (just like a flash, for example). According to the WHO http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs226/en/, the outputs from police radars are very small, in the milliwatt range, as opposed to average power of a few hundred watts for air traffic control radars and a few thousand for military units. The latter can be a significant hazard as it is a highly focused beam. So I wouldn't carry flashbulbs around an aircraft carrier, but an airport should be fine. Either that or I am getting cooked as I write as I can see the tower for National Airport from my desk.
3. Radar emissions can sometimes be tested by carrying a light bulb into the field and observing as it lights up. This denotes a signal strength that is above recommended levels. By then, it is probably too late. Some brain cells are dead even if you survive. At one time, it was believed that this was a 'safe' level.
This is bringing back a lot of old memories. We had a radar technician accidentally 'cook' a hand by an overdose of radar. IIRC, his hand turned red and gradually blistered. This took several hours as he gradually lost the use of the hand. Surgeons at our base had to finally amputate the hand.
This sort of thing is probably more common and less reported than is warranted.
PE
A bit like the urban legend of the guy who was killed and cooked by the radio waves in a relay station on New Year's Eve 1999 due to the vastly increased quantity of traffic.
A bit like the urban legend of the guy who was killed and cooked by the radio waves in a relay station on New Year's Eve 1999 due to the vastly increased quantity of traffic.
Lachlan
Lachlan, one thing is sure and that is the fact that the metal in a bulb filament can begin to glow by an induced current. That is why flashbulbs go off when hit be radar, and that is why an ordinary light bulb can produce a glow from radar.
PE
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PE, as an old RF tech, I have some curiosity here.
Could you possibly be mistaking that "bulb" for either a neon bulb or even flourescent tube? Back in the old days, we used both as RF indicators. It doesn't take much to excite the gas into glowing. Not much as in 5 watts to 500 depending on distance and bulb size. The thought of how much radiation would have to actually strike the filiment of an incandescnet bulb to generate enough power to make it glow makes me think it would be slightly inefficient as an indicator for anything alive...
We did however occasionaly use incandescent light bulbs as direct wired loads for RF transmitters, and they would light up...
And as one who used to fill the air waves with a thousand watts or so now and then, not 20 feet from the closet that held a case of flash bulbs, it now makes me wonder why they never went off? Okay, so it wasn't microwaves, but I still was able to fire up flourescent tubes 300 feet away when I transmitted ;-)
"A man who works with his hands is a laborer; a man who works with his hands and his brain is a craftsman; a man who works with his hands and his brain and his heart is an artist" -- Louis Nizer
PE, as an old RF tech, I have some curiosity here.
Could you possibly be mistaking that "bulb" for either a neon bulb or even flourescent tube? Back in the old days, we used both as RF indicators. It doesn't take much to excite the gas into glowing. Not much as in 5 watts to 500 depending on distance and bulb size. The thought of how much radiation would have to actually strike the filiment of an incandescnet bulb to generate enough power to make it glow makes me think it would be slightly inefficient as an indicator for anything alive...
We did however occasionaly use incandescent light bulbs as direct wired loads for RF transmitters, and they would light up...
And as one who used to fill the air waves with a thousand watts or so now and then, not 20 feet from the closet that held a case of flash bulbs, it now makes me wonder why they never went off? Okay, so it wasn't microwaves, but I still was able to fire up flourescent tubes 300 feet away when I transmitted ;-)
Big difference, the radar that set off those bulbs was throwing all of its few thousand watts in a tightly focused beam, as opposed to broadcasting. So I suspect that there was a lot more energy 100 feet in front of that aircraft than 20 feet from your antenna. And come to think of it, I regularly carry flashbulbs to a site that is so close to a TV tower that it jams my car alarm remote. I pass within 50 feet of that tower. The flashbulbs do fine.
Big difference, the radar that set off those bulbs was throwing all of its few thousand watts in a tightly focused beam, as opposed to broadcasting. So I suspect that there was a lot more energy 100 feet in front of that aircraft than 20 feet from your antenna. And come to think of it, I regularly carry flashbulbs to a site that is so close to a TV tower that it jams my car alarm remote. I pass within 50 feet of that tower. The flashbulbs do fine.
You are exactly right about the focused energy of the fighter radar. But this is similar to the airport X-ray, and is why it came to mind as a possible problem in this thread.
As far as the fluorescent lights, yes, I know about them and have for years, but I have also heard about tungsten lights glowing via induced current. This is why metals begin to burn in a microwave. In a bulb, they will not burn, but rather glow from the heat induced by current flowing. A flashbulb in a microwave would presumably fire.
My wife will not let me test any of these in our microwave. As a retiree, she has pointed out that our budget will not allow for a new microwave at this time.
My wife will not let me test any of these in our microwave. As a retiree, she has pointed out that our budget will not allow for a new microwave at this time.
PE
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