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What 50,000 watts of RF energy sounds like through a jumper cable

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Re: What 50,000 watts of RF energy sounds like through a jumper cable

#51

Post by derefr »

tjohns wrote: post #20
therein wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What makes it worse than just a burn or a burn due to an electrical shock?

Normal burns are usually localized to the surface of your skin. RF burns conduct all the way through your tissue, heating from the inside. It's a much deeper, more painful burn that takes an abnormally long time to heal. (Or so I'm told. So far I've been able to avoid experiencing one myself.)

You mean they conduct from the entry-point to ground, similar to a lightning strike or electrical burn? Or is this more like a radiation burn?

Actually, now that I think about it, it'd actually be most similar to how a microwave heats meat, wouldn't it? Microwaves being within the RF part of the EM spectrum and all. (Though not quite the same, given the lack of dipole interaction with water molecules outside of the particular part of the spectrum microwaves sit on.)

Re: What 50,000 watts of RF energy sounds like through a jumper cable

#53

Post by eknkc »

jacquesm wrote: post #33
vkou wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The bird would be fine, due to the way parallel circuits work (Very little power travels through the more resistant one of two parallel circuits.)

The bird would be dead. RF power will happily fry tissue if you get close enough to the radiator.

Why isn't there a bird / bug / etc cemetary at the base of the tower?

Re: What 50,000 watts of RF energy sounds like through a jumper cable

#54

Post by estomagordo »

zurn wrote: post #41
estomagordo wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think "40 W of light" is a great example of why this imprecise, or quite frankly, incorrect usage is troublesome. 40 W of old timey lightbulb light is useful if you want to sit close and read a book in the evening, whereas 40 W of a modern LED bulb light is a great thing to have if you want to fend of a pack of marauding undead.

"40 W of light" in physics terms is quite unambiguous, it means 40 W in radiant flux.

I'm aware that it makes sense to talk about light flux in terms of Watts, I was more getting at it not being obvious what the person using that terminology actually means.

Re: What 50,000 watts of RF energy sounds like through a jumper cable

#55

Post by igravious »

madez wrote: post #48

I can’t watch this video without an account. A click on the video leads me to the login page. Is there a mirror?

I don't have an account and it played just fine. Don't know why though because normally I get a login page like yourself.

Re: What 50,000 watts of RF energy sounds like through a jumper cable

#56

Post by scruple »

jacquesm wrote: post #36
tjohns wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Normal burns are usually localized to the surface of your skin. RF burns conduct all the way through your tissue, heating from the inside. It's a much deeper, more painful burn that takes an abnormally long time to heal. (Or so I'm told. So far I've been able to avoid experiencing one myself.)

Unfortunately I wasn't able to avoid the experience, I hit the screw on a silver trimmer in an end stage while looking at another one. Nasty little burn with dead tissue in the center and living tissue all around it. 35 years later it is still there, I don't expect that it will ever properly heal, it's a dead bit in the middle of a living finger.

Yep, I have a RF burns on 2 of my finger tips that I sustained between 5 and 10 years ago... They are dead little bits of flesh. Discolored a deep yellow, there is no feeling left and they feel, I guess I'd describe it as, quasi-numb when touched.

I was an embedded engineer at an RF company and it sort of comes with the territory. We had technicians who had lasted 4+ decades in RF (same company, actually) with scars to show for it. Same story, mostly on their fingers from accidentally hitting hot spots.

Re: What 50,000 watts of RF energy sounds like through a jumper cable

#57

Post by raverbashing »

therein wrote: post #14
voltagex_ wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think I'd want even minor RF burns - nasty nasty stuff.

What makes it worse than just a burn or a burn due to an electrical shock?

It's basically like putting your hand inside a microwave oven

Re: What 50,000 watts of RF energy sounds like through a jumper cable

#58

Post by laumars »

jacquesm wrote: post #33
vkou wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The bird would be fine, due to the way parallel circuits work (Very little power travels through the more resistant one of two parallel circuits.)

The bird would be dead. RF power will happily fry tissue if you get close enough to the radiator.

Excuse my ignorance, but wouldn't the bird need to be grounded for the power to jump? Or does that only apply to electrical circuits?

Re: What 50,000 watts of RF energy sounds like through a jumper cable

#59

Post by gcb0 »

eknkc wrote: post #53
jacquesm wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The bird would be dead. RF power will happily fry tissue if you get close enough to the radiator.

Why isn't there a bird / bug / etc cemetary at the base of the tower?

there is. it's very, very noticeable on micro wave towers. the drum like cover on microwave antennas is just a lame regulation to try to save birds. they still die just by passing by. the building were i lived had one that required constant "maintenance" (dead bird cleaning)

Re: What 50,000 watts of RF energy sounds like through a jumper cable

#60

Post by 50CNT »

derefr wrote: post #51
tjohns wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Normal burns are usually localized to the surface of your skin. RF burns conduct all the way through your tissue, heating from the inside. It's a much deeper, more painful burn that takes an abnormally long time to heal. (Or so I'm told. So far I've been able to avoid experiencing one myself.)

You mean they conduct from the entry-point to ground, similar to a lightning strike or electrical burn? Or is this more like a radiation burn? Actually, now that I think about it, it'd actually be most similar to how a microwave heats meat, wouldn't it? Microwaves being within the RF part of the EM spectrum and all. (Though not quite the same, given the lack of dipole interaction with water molecules outside of the p…

That reminds me of an urban legend regarding microwaves, which doesn't seem entirely infeasible. It involves a man working at a small fast food stand, who worked next to his microwave. Now his microwave was used often, and it had a small hole in the metal screen allowing microwave radiation to leak out. The man slowly starts to feel abdominal pains after a while, goes to his doctor, who diagnoses it as liver problems and recommends drinking less. A couple of months later, the man has died, and the autopsy reveals that parts of his liver were cooked.

I was told this story by my grandmother to prevent me from watching food cook in the microwave. That and cataracts, which can also be caused by heating up things that shouldn't be heated.

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