I read somewhere that a man dies if he is isolated from natural electromagnetic fields and waves. (I imply fields of radio frequencies and below.)
Is it true?
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1$\begingroup$ note that visible light and infra-red are also EM waves. Humans can survive in total darkness for a while though....it would be pretty cold too! $\endgroup$– MemmingCommented Dec 16, 2013 at 14:46
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$\begingroup$ @Memming: certainly light, UV, and infrared don't count in my question $\endgroup$– portonCommented Dec 16, 2013 at 14:47
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$\begingroup$ what frequency of EM wave, then, are you talking about? Without the magnetic field of earth, there would be too much solar wind/cosmic ray as well. $\endgroup$– MemmingCommented Dec 16, 2013 at 14:48
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4$\begingroup$ I never heard of anybody dying in a Faraday cage, so I don't think lack of EM or natural electric field has any effect, at least short term. $\endgroup$– MemmingCommented Dec 16, 2013 at 14:59
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3$\begingroup$ This question appears to be off-topic because it is based on an unreferenced claim $\endgroup$– WYSIWYGCommented Jan 14, 2015 at 13:43
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1 Answer
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I've never heard of such a thing, and a quick Scholar search didn't yield anything significant. In fact, artificial radio waves are used in things that usually save lives, like MRIs.
If we were truly agnostic about this, we could say that it might or might not have an effect on human survival due to the general lack of evidence or even indication of a claim, but like the orbiting teacup, it's safe to assume that given our current extensive set of knowledge of biology, radiowaves do not affect human at all, and that as it has not been observed, the claim doesn't have a scientific basis.
answered Dec 17, 2013 at 4:29