[DRAFT] 5G — Is it safe?

Many of us have been hearing about the new 5G technology that’s in the process of being implemented by cellular providers, and along with it there are the questions of what it is, how does it work, and most importantly, is it safe? Rumors circulating have gone so far as to say that can kill birds, can cause cancer, and on the conspiracy theory end of the spectrum, that it is capable of causing the sort of viral mutations that may have let to the novel coronavirus sweeping our planet. Whether or not the latter is plausible, we can all agree that it’s a compelling sci -fi movie premise.

With newness always comes a degree of fear and caution. Humans and other animals are programmed to respond to any new or unfamiliar stimulus in such a way. It’s a survival instinct that served our common ancestors well in the wild, but in modern society as the visceral threats to our lives exist less frequently in the same tangible form— predators and famine— we project these intense chemical fight-or-flight instincts onto ideas and social constructs.

The question is whether 5G is a real threat, or one of these phantom fears.

To make this determination, let’s start with what 5G actually is. Let’s demystify the technology so we can analyze it rationally, rather than with the ever-eager reptilian brain.

In the context we’re referring to, “5G” is fifth generation of cellular technology, as distinct from the 5G that you may see on your WiFi router at home.

On your router at home, you may see 5G or 5Ghz, and 2.4G or 2.4Ghz. These refer to two radio frequencies that provide your wireless connection, at the respective frequencies of 5 gigahertz, and 2.4 gigahertz. Giga stands for billion, and hertz means cycles per second. So these radio waves undulate up and down billions of times every second to communicate bits of information. For comparison, a tuning fork that a musician might use oscillates in the range of a few hundred hertz.

When it comes to WiFi, the 5 Ghz channel is capable of faster speeds, but the 2.4 Ghz channel provides more range, and is better at penetrating things like walls.

But why is it better at penetrating walls? (We’re going down the rabbit hole here, but I promise it’s all related)

Imagine one bit of information as a string of tiny pinballs flying through the air on a wavelike trajectory. Up and down, up and down. These pinballs are heading toward a mesh screen, and when they get there, some of the pinballs make it through the holes in the screen, but others collide with the mesh and scatter. As you turn up the frequency, the wave crests and troughs start to bunch closer together, and it becomes more likely for the pinballs to collide with the mesh as they attack it at a sharper angle, and have more undulations in a shorter region of space. When you think about it, it’s a matter of mathematical probability. Is it easier to pass your hand through the blades of a ceiling fan when it’s spinning quickly, or slowly?

All right, let’s get back to cellular 5G, which unlike WiFi, has a broadcast frequency that does not necessarily correspond with its name. 5G emits a signal between 24 and 90 Gigahertz.

Based on what we learned in the paragraphs above, one could infer that 5G would provide somewhere between 5x and 20x faster wireless speeds than what we have at home, but, would also have more trouble passing through obstacles. And you would be correct. At the low end of the spectrum, it can pass through your clothes, but not your skin (which is why they use these millimeter waves at airports to scan you for contraband). At the higher end of the spectrum, the waves can’t even pass through glass. These obstacles are compensated for by installing more antennae in a variety of locations to cut down on the area that each one needs to cover.

Now that we know, generally, what it is and how it works, is it safe?

Most cell towers broadcast at between 10-50 Watts, which in terms of power, is comparable to a light bulb in your home. A light bulb, however, broadcasts in the 400-800 Terahertz spectrum. So, in terms of electromagnetic radiation, the light bulb in your home is thousands of times more energetic than the cell antenna outside.

The light bulb is a more familiar technology, it’s something that we can see, so it’s less scary. But that word “radiation”, I get the sense that most of you don’t like hearing it. You get flashes of Chernobyl, the atom bomb, and the death of Marie Curie.

But radiation is not the same as radioactivity. Radioactivity is what happens when matter itself dissolves, releasing energy as light. These particles are so energetic that when they collide with other matter, they don’t bounce off like radio waves, but rather they cause the matter to break apart, too. A highly energetic pinball that blasts into a cluster of other pinballs, scattering them, which can actually alter the form of matter through changes to atomic structure. This is how mutations occur, through what’s called ionizing radiation. Imagine a chain reaction of particles bouncing through your body. Not good. Causes lots of damage.

Fortunately, ionizing radiation doesn’t begin to occur until the upper levels of the electromagnetic spectrum. Beginning at the tail end of ultraviolet light, through X-rays and Gamma rays (the most dangerous). Sunscreen is important because when we’re outside, we do receive some ultraviolet light from the sun, which can scramble some of the atoms on the surface of our skin. Chemical suncreens take this hit for us, reacting to the UV light which changes their own chemical composition. Non-chemical suncreens, like zinc, are able to reflect UV light.

Since microwaves are non-ionizing radiation on the lower end of the electromagnetic spectrum, they won’t rearrange your atomic structure. If you wanted to make them dangerous, you could crank up the wattage.

This is how microwave ovens work. They operate at around 1000 Watts (WiFi is closer to 10) on the 2.4 Ghz band, which is low energy enough that the waves are able to penetrate the surface of say, a Hot Pocket. Higher frequencies would burn the outside, but would leave the center cold.

But just because a light bulb is used to cook food in an easy bake oven, that doesn’t mean all light bulbs are dangerous. Same goes for microwave antennae.

Cell towers broadcast at low power, but even if they didn’t it wouldn’t give you cancer or a third arm. You might get burned if you got too close, as you would with a very bright light bulb. But, at the wattages used in the real world, 5G is safer than a streetlight.

The consequences of light pollution should be taken in to consideration, but in terms of direct health impact, it’s likely nothing to worry about.