Radiation from computers and Monitors

[Error 504]

do computers and monitors emit harmful radiation? i know we are constantly exposed to radiation, from all sorts of electronics. there is pretty much no escape from radiation exposure, but do computers and monitors emit radiation (or some kind of frequency electronic impulse) that's more harmful than that emitted by other household electronics?

 

thanks.

[Sarra]

2 hours ago, Error 504 said:

do computers and monitors emit harmful radiation? i know we are constantly exposed to radiation, from all sorts of electronics. there is pretty much no escape from radiation exposure, but do computers and monitors emit radiation (or some kind of frequency electronic impulse) that's more harmful than that emitted by other household electronics?

 

thanks.

'Harmful' radiation is generally considered to be Ionizing radiation. Ionizing Radiation is going to be Gamma Rays, Beta and Alpha particles.

 

Ionizing radiation generally requires a Source, a Source being a radioactive substance. The most common Source in your every day life is probably Radium, which you will find (in trace amounts) in every smoke detector you will encounter.

 

Most, if not all, computer components are not going to contain any kind of radioactive components, and electricity itself is really really hard to 'convert' into, say, Gamma rays, so no. Your computer isn't going to emit anything that is harmful to you, on a cellular level.

 

As far as 'not harmful' radiation, yes, your computer emits a LOT of 'not harmful' radiation. The light from your monitor, RGB light strips, and the heat that it pumps out the back of the case (or top, or front, or bottom), is all radiation. That said, unless you have like a billion RGB strips, or you've got a Marijuana plant grow powered off your PSU with like eleventybillion UV lights, you aren't going to get Face Cancer or Leg Cancer from sitting in front of your PC.

[Vishera]

Just now, Sarra said:

As far as 'not harmful' radiation, yes, your computer emits a LOT of 'not harmful' radiation. The light from your monitor, RGB light strips, and the heat that it pumps out the back of the case (or top, or front, or bottom), is all radiation. That said, unless you have like a billion RGB strips, or you've got a Marijuana plant grow powered off your PSU with like eleventybillion UV lights, you aren't going to get Face Cancer or Leg Cancer from sitting in front of your PC.

Also any electrical component emits electro-magnetic radiation,even the electrical sockets on the wall.

[System64]

13 minutes ago, Sarra said:

'Harmful' radiation is generally considered to be Ionizing radiation. Ionizing Radiation is going to be Gamma Rays, Beta and Alpha particles.

 

Ionizing radiation generally requires a Source, a Source being a radioactive substance. The most common Source in your every day life is probably Radium, which you will find (in trace amounts) in every smoke detector you will encounter.

 

Most, if not all, computer components are not going to contain any kind of radioactive components, and electricity itself is really really hard to 'convert' into, say, Gamma rays, so no. Your computer isn't going to emit anything that is harmful to you, on a cellular level.

 

As far as 'not harmful' radiation, yes, your computer emits a LOT of 'not harmful' radiation. The light from your monitor, RGB light strips, and the heat that it pumps out the back of the case (or top, or front, or bottom), is all radiation. That said, unless you have like a billion RGB strips, or you've got a Marijuana plant grow powered off your PSU with like eleventybillion UV lights, you aren't going to get Face Cancer or Leg Cancer from sitting in front of your PC.

Only ionization smoke detectors emit radiation. Most modern ones are photoelectric, and do not emit radiation.

[Spindel]

No don't worry about radiation from your electronics, it's more dangerous to be out in the sun (from a radiation standpoint) than being in proximity to consumer electronics. 

 

 

A tidbit about monitor "radiation". 

 

With CRT monitors there was a problem that affected some users. But that wasn't radiation.

The problem that surfaced with CRT computer monitors (because you sit close to a computer monitor compared to a TV) was because you build up an electric potential between the screen and the face/upper body of the user. This electric field accelerated charged particles towards the face and particularly women got rashes in the face upper chest (if showing skin) from sitting long times by a computer. Why was it mainly women that got these problems, one might ask? Well it turns out that it's more common that women wear makeup, a lot of makeup contain metal particles, metal particles are well suited to be accelerated by an electric field to then get embedded in the skin of the face and exposed upper chest of the computer user and then cause skin irritation.  

 

This is not a problem with flat panels since they do not contain a huge electromagnet/electron gun pointed at the user. 

[Blue4130]

12 minutes ago, Spindel said:

No don't worry about radiation from your electronics, it's more dangerous to be out in the sun (from a radiation standpoint) than being in proximity to consumer electronics. 

 

 

A tidbit about monitor "radiation". 

 

With CRT monitors there was a problem that affected some users. But that wasn't radiation.

The problem that surfaced with CRT computer monitors (because you sit close to a computer monitor compared to a TV) was because you build up an electric potential between the screen and the face/upper body of the user. This electric field accelerated charged particles towards the face and particularly women got rashes in the face upper chest (if showing skin) from sitting long times by a computer. Why was it mainly women that got these problems, one might ask? Well it turns out that it's more common that women wear makeup, a lot of makeup contain metal particles, metal particles are well suited to be accelerated by an electric field to then get embedded in the skin of the face and exposed upper chest of the computer user and then cause skin irritation.  

 

This is not a problem with flat panels since they do not contain a huge electromagnet/electron gun pointed at the user. 

Got a *valid* source for this? It sounds like internet tinfoil hat urban lore, but I am interested in being wrong.

[Spindel]

23 minutes ago, Blue4130 said:

Got a *valid* source for this? It sounds like internet tinfoil hat urban lore, but I am interested in being wrong.

Thanks for fact checking me.

 

Apparently that theory was not disproven but a correlation with electrostatic field could not be found

 

Start with this (from 1988  ) and then fall down the rabbit hole (depending on how much time you have at hand) by looking att related articles: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2976651/

 

EDIT:// on the other hand this literature study of articles actually support my initial claim https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1839428/ (NO IT DOES NOT I CAN'T READ)

[Blue4130]

Just now, Spindel said:

Thanks for fact checking me.

 

Apparently that theory was not disproven but a correlation with electrostatic field could not be found

 

Start with this (from 1988  ) and then fall down the rabbit hole (depending on how much time you have at hand) by looking att related articles: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2976651/

Thanks, should be some good bedtime reading I love a good rabbit hole.

[Sarra]

8 hours ago, Vishera said:

Also any electrical component emits electro-magnetic radiation,even the electrical sockets on the wall.

8 hours ago, System64 said:

Only ionization smoke detectors emit radiation. Most modern ones are photoelectric, and do not emit radiation.

Ah, I haven't purchased a smoke detector in like... 15 years. So, I guess that it would make sense that they are investing in new technology for them.

 

Fun fact: When I was 10 years old, I went on a 'take crap apart' binge. I took several of my old toys apart, and my parents purchased a new smoke detector. I took the old one, and removed the plastic mounting bracket from it. I saw the 'RADIATION' warning symbol, put the plastic mounting bracket back on it, and absolutely did not tamper with it.

 

 

8 hours ago, Vishera said:

Also any electrical component emits electro-magnetic radiation,even the electrical sockets on the wall.

Ah, yes. Electromagnetic, radio, and more heat are also emitted from computer components.

[dilpickle]

9 hours ago, Sarra said:

Ionizing radiation generally requires a Source, a Source being a radioactive substance. The most common Source in your every day life is probably Radium, which you will find (in trace amounts) in every smoke detector you will encounter.

Radium hasn't been used in smoke detectors since the 60s. After that they switched to Americium which is a manmade radioactive element. And as other have stated newer models are also photoelectric.

[Amias]

12 hours ago, Error 504 said:

do computers and monitors emit harmful radiation? i know we are constantly exposed to radiation, from all sorts of electronics. there is pretty much no escape from radiation exposure, but do computers and monitors emit radiation (or some kind of frequency electronic impulse) that's more harmful than that emitted by other household electronics?

 

thanks.

Short answer. No.

 

Complex answer, your Wifi/Bluetooth could heat your skin by 0.01 degrees over a few hours of long exposure ...  maybe.

 

A life time of exposure to your wireless signals combined would be less than a walk on a cloudy day. 

[WkdPaul]

10 hours ago, Vishera said:

Also any electrical component emits electro-magnetic radiation,even the electrical sockets on the wall.

The electromagnetic spectrum includes a LOT of different type of radiation, not just EM radiation created by electricity. For exemple, visible light is radiation, so I always find laughable when people are "afraid" about wifi / bt / 5G ... Pretty sure there's more visible light pollution than any wifi or BT radio waves !

 

So to the OP ; no there's no ionizing radiation being emitted from computer equipment.

[NekoBubbles]

12 hours ago, Error 504 said:

do computers and monitors emit harmful radiation? i know we are constantly exposed to radiation, from all sorts of electronics. there is pretty much no escape from radiation exposure, but do computers and monitors emit radiation (or some kind of frequency electronic impulse) that's more harmful than that emitted by other household electronics?

 

thanks.

This type of question is kinda along the lines of could a person eat enough banana's to become radioactive. Could one get radiation poisoning by being around electronics. Is it possible? Yes but, what it would take is so much exposure or in the case of banana's eating so many banana's its simply not realistic.

 

For something to be in the range of radioactive it needs to be Ionic aka concentrated to a degree of lets say an xray. this would be called ionizing radiation

 

Where as PC's, phones and most electronics produce so little ionic radiation they fall in to a different category entirely called, ironically "non"-ionization. They might produce some radiation but its at such a small level that its undetectable by most  EMF's. And even if you wanted to try and detect it you would need a super special one that would require a sanitized room that and is simply not realistic to even bother thinking of. 
 

Physics wise yes maybe PC's are possibly radioactive. But it would require being able to live billions if not like trillions of years to reach a single digit of radioactivity. Which simply is not realistic if one is trying to compare that time span to the life of a human. 

To be considered harmful it would have to be a destructive form of Radiation which is specifically and simply DOES not apply either to PC's. 

Ionizing/radioactive waves of radiation require a certain level of frequency strength to reach a point of ionizing damage. 

Most PC's only get to 400 to a upper range of only 800 Terahertz (10¹²  ) which is SUPER low when compared to actually harmful levels of radiation. 

Harmful radiation waves in comparison need to be 10¹⁵  also called Petahertz, which could be comparable to X rays and UV light from the Sun.  Which is 1000x stronger than what one could ever hope to get in terms of emissions from PC equipment. 

Another way of looking at what I'm saying is PC electronics are a "1/1000TH"  of the radioactive damage the sun could do. 

NOTE these are broad examples and if you're writing a essay of any sort you will want sources and examples of what I'm talking about or else your teacher can claim you are making up NUMBERS. That being said one could google some of the terms I used and find proper sources with relative ease.

[Moonzy]

To be fair, we can't say that the radiation emitted by electronics won't cause xxx sickness or cancer

 

What we can say is that there's no evidence showing that it happened yet

 

There might be unknown mechanics that might be causing issues, but so far we haven't found any and there's no symptoms of it

[mariushm]

Some smoke detectors had a bit of Americium, which is a bit radioactive.

 

No computers don't emit any harmful radiation.  CRT monitors could have caused problems due to some electronics escaping through the leaded glass in the front and also - a bit off topic as it's not radiation - the flicker from the refresh rate could affect your eyes. LCD monitors don't have that refresh issue anymore.

 

 

[trag1c]

About the only time non ionizing radiation is harmful is when there is enough of it to cause heating. So something like a microwave oven causes that effect but because it is shielded it doesn't effect anything outside the oven. But those are taking like 1000-1800w of energy and turning it into as much radiation as it possibly can. You PC and monitors on the other had are not designed to do that and any stray RF that comes off of them is very low energy so you don't see that heating effect present. Its pretty gray area though whether or not electronic devices causes damage to living things but so far we don't have any evidence to support that they cause damage. 

[NekoBubbles]

Just now, trag1c said:

About the only time non ionizing radiation is harmful is when there is enough of it to cause heating. So something like a microwave oven causes that effect but because it is shielded it doesn't effect anything outside the oven. But those are taking like 1000-1800w of energy and turning it into as much radiation as it possibly can. You PC and monitors on the other had are not designed to do that and any stray RF that comes off of them is very low energy so you don't see that heating effect present. Its pretty gray area though whether or not electronic devices causes damage to living things but so far we don't have any evidence to support that they cause damage. 

Well logically a human being isn't going to cook their own arm. But then again we are all humans and stranger things have been done in the name of "science"

[HenrySalayne]

6 hours ago, Spindel said:

With CRT monitors there was a problem that affected some users. But that wasn't radiation.

Actually, CRTs emit low levels of x-rays (which is ionizing radiation). Electrons hitting the screen have a possibility to emit high energy photons, a phenomenon called Bremsstrahlung. But it's basically negligible.

 

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25706133/

 

 

[trag1c]

3 minutes ago, NekoBubbles said:

Well logically a human being isn't going to cook their own arm. But then again we are all humans and stranger things have been done in the name of "science"

 

[FakeATF]

Short answer: you'll be fine.

 

Long answer: All light is radiation, what is dangerous is ionizing radiation, which will damage DNA and lead to cancer or radiation poisoning, in large doses. Your monitor does emit radiation. However it is non ionizing, so you are 100% fine. Most light is non ionizing and thus does not have the energy to cause harm.

 

Alpha particles will not penetrate a piece of paper, so you are pretty much 100% safe unless you ingest a lot of them/ something that emits a lot of them. Beta particles will not penetrate the skin, so again, you're safe.

 

Gamma rays are the "dangerous" ones, but not really as dangerous as you think. I can handle a radioactive hunk or uranium bearing ore no problem. I just need to make sure to not inhale it, and not handle it for too long. I wouldn't want to sleep next to it or anything, but handling something like that is generally fine as long as you don't inhale it or eat it and you wash any dust off once you re done so you don't get continuously exposed. The danger comes from time exposed and ingestion. Most sources of radioactive materials emit all 3 kinds of particles and so if you hear a dosimeter/Geiger counter going wild, it's really not usually as bad as it sounds because these devices will also pick up alpha and beta particles as well as the more dangerous gamma rays. Of course if I get a dose of >1000 rads I will most likely die, regardless of how long I was exposed. However, it is very unlikely for the average Joe like you or I to even get close to that at any given time. 

 

As for smoke detectors, the same thing goes. I remember back in my 8th grade science class a long time ago the teacher took apart a smoke detector and took out the americium in it. He showed it all to us and put a Geiger counter next to it and compared the background radiation to the radioactive material.

[da na]

All electronic devices emit EMR. However not all is harmful. Yes if you strapped a CRT to yourself, took the casing off, plugged it in, and hung around for a few weeks like that you'd get sick. But the amount emitted is very minimal, there are regulations that require companies to keep that to a safe limit.

[da na]

17 minutes ago, FakeATF said:

As for smoke detectors, the same thing goes. I remember back in my 8th grade science class a long time ago the teacher took apart a smoke detector and took out the americium in it. He showed it all to us and put a Geiger counter next to it and compared the background radiation to the radioactive material.

Well your 8th grade science class is a lot more interesting than mine...

[FakeATF]

1 minute ago, wat3rmelon_man2 said:

Well your 8th grade science class is a lot more interesting than mine...

*was : )

 

That was a while ago, and it was out in a rural area. It probably wouldn't have flown if the district had known about it

[wasab]

Sun emits harmful radiation. Are you going to avoid sunlight like a vampire from now on?

[Arika]

18 hours ago, Error 504 said:

but do computers and monitors emit radiation (or some kind of frequency electronic impulse) that's more harmful than that emitted by other household electronics?

it doesn't matter, because "household" electronics already aren't "harmful". everything with electricity running through it will always emit some form of radiation, it's just a matter of how much, and that is to say basically nothing in the grand scheme of things. You're more likely to get run over by a car being driven by a shark on a deserted island while going to collect your willing lottery ticket than for your home electronics' radiation to have any kind of effect on you.

 

But yes, as other people have mentioned, if you're concerned about your electronics, i imagine you must never go outside, because the sun is a bitch.