Re: Monitor Radiation

[Rubywand <rubywand@swbell.net>]

Michael Madill writes ...
> 
> I used a Gauss meter to measure the radiation in front of the monitors
> of the //e's in my classroom.  At the distance where the student would
> sit (about 2 feet) the reading for all of them was between 6 and 8
> milligauss.  For the Macs it was 1.5 milligauss except when the hard
> drive started up the meter went off the scale which is a maximum of 10
> milligauss.
> 
> Are any of these readings at dangerous levels?
> ....


     Who can say? There has for some time been speculation about possible 
harmful effects of certain electromagnetic fields. Evidently, some 
persons living near high tension power lines do experience health 
problems.

     I do not recall ever coming across an ad for a low-emission monitor 
which specifically guaranteed that it would be "safe" to use. The idea 
behind reducing various kinds of monitor radiation seems to be, mainly, 
to make radiation as low as possible 'just in case'.

     Regarding the jump in Mac emf readings when the hard disk starts up, 
there may be a simple explanation. If hard disk startup coincides with 
monitor power-up, the brief high reading may be due to auto-degaussing 
performed whenever the monitor is turned ON.


Rubywand