"Richard Harrison" wrote in message
...
I`ve always thought the only effect if RF on humans to be heat
and burns from my personal experience of extreme exposure
throughout my long life. I`ve spent years with a megawatt all
around me. Recently i`ve read the defense department has a
nonlethal highpower pulsed micrlwave weapon which incapacitates
anyone in its beam. It is also said the military has little
interest in nonlethal weapons.

The ONLY effect that radio frequencies can do to humans is thermal.
You have to increase the frequencies to the upper visible region
(blue since we are talking frequency rather than wavelength) before
there is any ionizing radiation. Note, however, that thermal effects
can be damaging.

I have two books on industrial applications of microwaves that
describe where the early Litton devices were first used in
restaurants (but the books are in Tennessee and I am in SC so I
cannot provide references). It was found that at many restaurants,
the doors were taken off the units and the ovens were operated
continuously. Litton soon provided interlocks on the doors!
People would place food into the cavity without turning off the
microwaves. Other than a few thermal burns, no one was seriously
hurt by the ovens — with one exception. In fact, I would be quite
willing to place a hand into an operating home microwave oven for
several seconds at a time. With reasonable blood flow, the thermal
energy is quickly spread out to the rest of the body. But the
exception is quite serious. The cornea and lens of the eye have
essentially no blood flow, so any heat generated there builds up.
This can produce cataracts. The effect was seen among many early
experimenters with microwaves and many members of the military.
working with high power radars. So while the new weapon Richard
talks about is non-lethal, it can easily cause blindness. This may
be why the military is not so interested.

--
73, Dr. Barry L. Ornitz WA4VZQ