Heating and pain sensation produced in human skin by millimeter waves: comparison to a simple thermal model.
Walters TJ, Blick DW, Johnson LR, Adair ER, Foster KR · 2000
View Original AbstractMillimeter waves cause rapid skin heating and pain at 1.8 W/cm², providing baseline data for understanding 5G frequency effects on human tissue.
Plain English Summary
Researchers exposed 10 volunteers to high-intensity millimeter wave radiation (94 GHz) for 3 seconds to determine when skin heating becomes painful. They found that pain occurred when skin temperature reached 43.9°C, representing a 9.9°C increase from baseline. The study was designed to help predict pain thresholds for military applications using millimeter wave technology.
Why This Matters
This research provides crucial data on how millimeter wave frequencies affect human tissue, particularly relevant as 5G networks increasingly use these same frequencies (24-100 GHz range). The study used extremely high power densities of 1.8 W/cm² - thousands of times higher than typical 5G exposures - to establish clear thermal pain thresholds. What this means for you is that while the specific power levels tested far exceed everyday exposures, the research demonstrates that millimeter waves penetrate only the top layers of skin and cause rapid heating. The science demonstrates that these frequencies interact differently with human tissue than lower frequency EMF, raising important questions about cumulative exposure effects and sensitive populations, even at the much lower power levels we encounter daily from 5G infrastructure.
Exposure Details
- Power Density
- 1800 µW/m²
- Source/Device
- 94 GHz
Exposure Context
This study used 1800 µW/m² for radio frequency:
- 180,000Mx above the Building Biology guideline of 0.1 μW/m²
- 3,000Mx above the BioInitiative Report recommendation of 0.0006 μW/cm²
Building Biology guidelines are practitioner-based limits from real-world assessments. BioInitiative Report recommendations are based on peer-reviewed science. Check Your Exposure to compare your own measurements.
Where This Falls on the Concern Scale
Study Details
The aim of this study is to investigate Heating and pain sensation produced in human skin by millimeter waves: comparison to a simple thermal model.
Cutaneous thresholds for thermal pain were measured in 10 human subjects during 3-s exposures at 94 ...
The threshold for pricking pain was 43.9+/-0.7 degrees C, which corresponded to an increase in surfa...
Taken together, these results support the use of the model for predicting thresholds of thermal pain at other millimeter wave (length) frequencies.
Show BibTeX
@article{tj_2000_heating_and_pain_sensation_1414,
author = {Walters TJ and Blick DW and Johnson LR and Adair ER and Foster KR},
title = {Heating and pain sensation produced in human skin by millimeter waves: comparison to a simple thermal model.},
year = {2000},
url = {https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10688448/},
}