Let’s Talk About 5G
Let’s talk about 5G.
5G generically stands for “Fifth-Generation” wireless communication technology. It supersedes 4G (LTE) as the current path to high-speed wireless data.
Let me start by saying that there is nothing intrinsically special about 5G networks: They all use various radio frequency bands that are higher than 4G. The higher the radio frequency, the more data that the band can carry. And that’s pretty much all there is to 5G.
The question is: Should we be concerned about 5G? Are there health and safety risks to using higher-frequency radio bands for wireless communications?
Well, the short answer is NO; we have literally NOTHING to fear about 5G wireless networks.
The longer answer is: Radio waves are part of what are called the Electromagnetic Spectrum in nature. The Electromagnetic Spectrum includes everything from (in order from lower to higher frequency):
—Radio waves: Everything from your car stereo to your phone to your GPS system
—Microwaves*: From cooking food to telecommunications
—Infra-red light*: Like the infra-red LED (light-emitting diode) that beams commands from your remote to your TV
—Visible light: The light you can see with your eyes
—Ultra-violet light*: Like the kind used in tanning beds
—X-rays: Used in medical imaging
—Gamma rays: Powerful, energetic bursts created by cosmic phenomena like black holes
(*We’ll come back to these shortly)
The shorter the electromagnetic wavelength, the more energy it carries. In fact, in terms of “orders of magnitude”; the radio waves used by your cell phone are some 900 million times weaker than the next order of magnitude—microwaves (10⁸ hz vs 10⁹ hz. FYI: Radio frequencies are measured in hz, short for “Herz”).
Note that the radio waves that give us 5G are much lower in frequency—and energy—than visible light. That’s right: You technically have a much better chance of getting radiation sickness from a flashlight than your average cell phone.
*Now, in your mind, you’ve see certain aspects of the electromagnetic spectrum “cooking” things: Microwaves heat our food. Infra-red lamps are used to keep food warm. Ultra-violet light can burn your skin if you’re exposed to it for too long.
And, while all of this is true, these are much…much higher frequencies of radio waves than those used by your phone, and much…much higher orders of magnitude. And even so, these sorts of electromagnetic radiation require specific means and amounts of exposure: For example, you need prolonged exposure to microwaves before you “burn to a crisp”. In short: Your cell phone simply doesn’t have enough power (energy) to expose you to harmful amounts of electromagnetic radiation.
The most powerful sources of electromagnetic radiation we are constantly exposed to are #1.) Our own sun, and #2.) Phenomena known as “cosmic rays”. Electromagnetic radiation from our sun is so powerful, in fact, that you are exposed to it even at night on the “dark side” of our planet while facing away from it! Meanwhile, we are constantly bombarded with high-frequency, high-energy radio waves from space. You should be much more concerned about GRB’s—”Gamma-Ray Bursts”—than 5G: A powerful enough GRB can burn-away Earth’s entire atmosphere…even from thousands of light years away…and there is literally nothing we could do to stop it.
In closing: Although the “millimeter wave” radio waves that pass though our bodies—used at airports to scan you, and to pack more data into 5G networks—are modulated in ways that aren’t found in nature, they don’t have enough energy to knock our DNA molecules out of place in such a way to cause cancer, much less “radiation poisoning”.
How am I so sure? Because I happen have a patent on radio frequency tracking technologies… 😉
