
Ask HN: Where should 5G be placed on this radiation dose chart? - ToFab123
https://xkcd.com/radiation
======
gus_massa
It is easier to understand the problem with another question: Where should
sunlight be?

The power of sunlight is approximately 120W/m^2. The surface of the skin of a
person is approximately 2m^2. Let's assume that someone sunbath naked at noon
for 1 hour. The energy s/he get is 120W/m^2 * 2m^2/2 * 3600s = 432000J.

Let's assume the weight of the person is 100kg=220pounds, then s/he gets
4320J/Kg ~= 5000 J/Kg.

Getting 5000 J/Kg of gamma radiation is lethal. Getting 5000 J/Kg of sunlight
is safe [remember to use sunscreen to make it safer].

The graph is in Sv (Sievert)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sievert](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sievert)
. The conversion of J/Kg to Sv is not straightforward, but for gamma radiation
(IIUC) the conversion coefficient is 1 (assuming an uniform distribution, some
parts of the body are more sensitive to radiation than other).

Getting 5000 J/Kg of gamma radiation is equivalent to getting 5000 Sv/Kg. The
highest level in the graph is "10 minutes next to Chernobyl reactor" = 50Sv.
So 5000Sv is about 1000 minutes next to Chernobyl reactor, that is
approximately 16 hours, that is approximately half day. You ded.

Transforming 5000 J/Kg of sunlight to Sv/Kg is more difficult. The problem is
that different radiation frequencies have a different conversion coefficient
to Sv/Kg. For gamma-rays and X-rays the coefficient is 1. I can't find the
coefficient for UV but let's assume that it is close to 1. The coefficient for
visible light is close to 0. Infrared is closer to 0 because the photons have
less energy. Radio waves are closer to 0.

The idea is that the photons in gamma-rays, X-rays and UV chave a lot of
energy and can kick an electron and f you are very unlucky create a mutation.
The photons in infrared and radio waves have very little energy and they can't
kick and electron, so they are safe. You can accumulate a lot of infrared and
radio waves photons and heat you, but they don't produce mutations.

So the 5000 J/Kg of sunlight is probably very close to 0 Sv/Kg. I guess a less
than 1 uSv (in the blue region), because 1 hour of sunbath is (probably) safer
than an X ray in the arm. I'd like to see hard numbers, but 1 hour of sunbath
per day is safer than 1 x-ray in the arm per day.

Just in case, remember to use sunscreen that blocks the UV so sunbathing is
even more safe. You should use sunscreen to block the UV that is a very small
part of the radiation of sunlight, but they have some chance or making a
mutation. You don't have to block the infrared radiation that is much bigger
but it can't produce mutations.

\---

Back to your question: Try to get the power of 5G in a nearby area (100 foot
away from the tower?), multiply it by 24hours to get the daily dose. Is it
more or less than 1 hour of sunlight. Now remember that sunlight have UV, so
sunlight is more dangerous than 5G.

------
arethuza
As far as I understand things, 5G is non-ionizing so the answer would appear
to be "nowhere".

~~~
9120310
This. There was an interesting thread a couple of days ago:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20456152](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20456152)

