Undele electromagnetice – puncte de vedere ale studenților cu pregătire medicală sau inginerească | [Electromagnetic waves - viewpoints of students with medical training or engineering]

Abstract

For decades people have tried to make life easier. Because of this, nowadays we are surrounded by new technologies and many of these are using microwaves. Microwaves are electromagnetic waves with frequencies between 300 MHz-300 GHz and their wavelengths are from 1 meter to 0.1 centimeters. This widespread form of energy is used in many fields, like communication (cell phones), agricultural-forestry-related industries, TV broadcasting via satellites, thermal heating (microwave oven), RADAR systems, and medicine. In medicine, microwaves are used both for diagnostic applications (tumor, and stroke detection) and therapeutic applications (ablation of tumors, treatment for axillary hyperhidrosis, microbial decontamination). During the last few years, there has been increasing public concern about the potential health risks of this nonionizing radiation. Because of these aspects, the aim of this paper is to study the level of knowledge and the general opinion about microwaves and to examine the most used source of information - online media.