When I wrote my first post about the myths that are spread in social media, I thought that it would be a one-off post (in fact that is why it ended up being so long). But I have been seeing a number of new myths popping their ugly heads. So I thought I would take a crack at busting a few of them once again. This time it is about mobile phone myths on social media.
I am not going to talk about controversial theory of mobile phones and brain cancers. This is one field where half the research shows that mobile phones can cause cancer while the other half claim the contrary. Yet both supporters and detractors of the theory are sure that they are correct. Particle physicists haven't yet claimed to have found the Higgs boson even though they see a 4.3 sigma signal (99.998% significance level) because in particle physics only a 5 sigma signal (99.99994%) is considered significant. But in the case of mobile phones everyone is arguing over a 50% signal. In my opinion it will take some more time before any claim can be made with certainty.
Even if I don't consider the brain cancer theory, it surprises me that people still consider mobile phones as a device straight from the devil's workshop. They believe that there are so many negative effects and threats from the use of mobile phones. In general, apart from them being a distraction for adults while driving and for kids while studying, I am critical of the other so-called effects.
I will be talking about two myths in this post, the first one is old while the second one, though old, is making the rounds currently.
1. Can talking on mobile phones cause fire accidents in gas stations?
"Warning: Cell phone use in gas stations
Cell Phones.....
In case you do not know, there was an incident where a driver suffered burns and his car severely damaged when gasoline fumes ignited an explosion while he was talking on his mobile phone standing near the attendant who was pumping the gas. All the electronic devices in gas stations are protected with explosive containment devices, (intrinsically safe) while cell phones are not. READ YOUR HANDBOOK! Mobile phone makers Motorola, Ericsson, and Nokia, all print cautions in their user handbooks that warn against mobile phones in "gas stations, fuel storage sites, and chemical factories." Exxon has begun placing "warning stickers" at its gasoline stations. The threat mobile phones pose to gas stations and their users is primarily the result of their ability to produce sparks that can be generated by the high-powered battery inside the phone. Please pass this on."
This is a well known myth that has spread all over the world that mobile phones can can cause explosions in gas stations. In fact at many places gas station owners don't let anyone talk on cell phones when they are filling gas. But to date, none of the gas station fires has been caused by mobile phones. For more information on this do read the these links from snoopes.com and about.com.
Apart from the reasons given in the two sites, the real MythBusters have busted this myth (do check this video). In the process of busting the myth they learnt that most of these fire accidents occur due to static charges. When someone takes out a mobile phone from his pocket, he could accumulate static charges especially if he is wearing woolen or nylon clothing. And when he touches the fuel nozzle without discharging the charge, it would result in a spark which could ignite the fuel fumes near the nozzle. This seems to be the reason for a large number of gas station fires and not mobile phones.
2. Can cell phone camera flash conduct electricity?
"4 days back this boy had gone to Amravati (One of the district place located in State of Maharashtra) on study tour. After their study was over, he, his classmates & his teachers, all of them were standing on "Badnera" railway station to catch the train. "Badnera" is the name of the railway station for "Amravati" city.
As soon as they arrived on Badnera Railway station, many of them started taking pictures of their friends using "Mobile Phones" and/or "Digital Camera". One of them complained that, in his camera, he was not able to capture more number of friends in one frame. He was not able to catch the angle. Another boy suggested that let's climb on train boogie and take picture so that all of them can be accommodated in single frame.
At that there was one goods wagon (all of them were oil tankers) train resting between 2 main railway lines.Kumar Aditya climbed up oil boogie. Above his head, 40,000 volts electrical line was passing through. As soon as he clicked the digital camera? 40,000 volt current passed through the camera flash light to his camera and then from his camera to his fingers and then from his fingers to his body. All this happened within fraction of minutes. Next moment he was thrown from the top. His body was half burned on the spot."
First of all there are no authentic report for this incident on the Internet. It can be found only in forums, Facebook and forwarded emails. That questions the credibility of this incident. Rather than stating this as a reason I am going to try disproving this hoax scientifically.
I am not going to talk about controversial theory of mobile phones and brain cancers. This is one field where half the research shows that mobile phones can cause cancer while the other half claim the contrary. Yet both supporters and detractors of the theory are sure that they are correct. Particle physicists haven't yet claimed to have found the Higgs boson even though they see a 4.3 sigma signal (99.998% significance level) because in particle physics only a 5 sigma signal (99.99994%) is considered significant. But in the case of mobile phones everyone is arguing over a 50% signal. In my opinion it will take some more time before any claim can be made with certainty.
Even if I don't consider the brain cancer theory, it surprises me that people still consider mobile phones as a device straight from the devil's workshop. They believe that there are so many negative effects and threats from the use of mobile phones. In general, apart from them being a distraction for adults while driving and for kids while studying, I am critical of the other so-called effects.
I will be talking about two myths in this post, the first one is old while the second one, though old, is making the rounds currently.
1. Can talking on mobile phones cause fire accidents in gas stations?
"Warning: Cell phone use in gas stations
Cell Phones.....
In case you do not know, there was an incident where a driver suffered burns and his car severely damaged when gasoline fumes ignited an explosion while he was talking on his mobile phone standing near the attendant who was pumping the gas. All the electronic devices in gas stations are protected with explosive containment devices, (intrinsically safe) while cell phones are not. READ YOUR HANDBOOK! Mobile phone makers Motorola, Ericsson, and Nokia, all print cautions in their user handbooks that warn against mobile phones in "gas stations, fuel storage sites, and chemical factories." Exxon has begun placing "warning stickers" at its gasoline stations. The threat mobile phones pose to gas stations and their users is primarily the result of their ability to produce sparks that can be generated by the high-powered battery inside the phone. Please pass this on."
This is a well known myth that has spread all over the world that mobile phones can can cause explosions in gas stations. In fact at many places gas station owners don't let anyone talk on cell phones when they are filling gas. But to date, none of the gas station fires has been caused by mobile phones. For more information on this do read the these links from snoopes.com and about.com.
Apart from the reasons given in the two sites, the real MythBusters have busted this myth (do check this video). In the process of busting the myth they learnt that most of these fire accidents occur due to static charges. When someone takes out a mobile phone from his pocket, he could accumulate static charges especially if he is wearing woolen or nylon clothing. And when he touches the fuel nozzle without discharging the charge, it would result in a spark which could ignite the fuel fumes near the nozzle. This seems to be the reason for a large number of gas station fires and not mobile phones.
2. Can cell phone camera flash conduct electricity?
"4 days back this boy had gone to Amravati (One of the district place located in State of Maharashtra) on study tour. After their study was over, he, his classmates & his teachers, all of them were standing on "Badnera" railway station to catch the train. "Badnera" is the name of the railway station for "Amravati" city.
As soon as they arrived on Badnera Railway station, many of them started taking pictures of their friends using "Mobile Phones" and/or "Digital Camera". One of them complained that, in his camera, he was not able to capture more number of friends in one frame. He was not able to catch the angle. Another boy suggested that let's climb on train boogie and take picture so that all of them can be accommodated in single frame.
At that there was one goods wagon (all of them were oil tankers) train resting between 2 main railway lines.Kumar Aditya climbed up oil boogie. Above his head, 40,000 volts electrical line was passing through. As soon as he clicked the digital camera? 40,000 volt current passed through the camera flash light to his camera and then from his camera to his fingers and then from his fingers to his body. All this happened within fraction of minutes. Next moment he was thrown from the top. His body was half burned on the spot."
First of all there are no authentic report for this incident on the Internet. It can be found only in forums, Facebook and forwarded emails. That questions the credibility of this incident. Rather than stating this as a reason I am going to try disproving this hoax scientifically.
- There are two explanations that people give as the reason for this incident. The first one is that the camera flash conducted the electricity from the high voltage power line. I guess this explanation comes from people who are confused between electric current and electromagnetic waves. Electric current arises from the movement of electrons in a conductor while an electromagnetic wave (light) is what we use to interact with the current. That is, two current carrying conductors can interact with one another by exchanging electromagnetic waves and electromagnetic waves don't conduct electric current on their own. If this was not true, everyone of us will be electrocuted every time we walk under a power line during daytime when there is abundant light from the sun.
- The second explanation is that the capacitor that supplies voltage to the flash light could conduct electricity at the moment when it is discharging the stored charge. This is a much better explanation. The capacitor discharges around 200 V of charges which is amplified to 5000 V that is then used by a Xenon lamp to create the flash. But from what I have read, one needs to be very close to the power line for this to happen. In India, where this incident is claimed to have happened, the power lines are at least 20 feet above the ground level. So one must climb a ladder to go near the power line. The victim seems to have done that by climbing a goods wagon and that too an oil tanker. Even a static charge could have ignited the fumes on top of the oil tanker leading to the victim getting burnt. In my opinion, if this incident really happened, the victim's carelessness (can also be called his stupidity) would be reason for the accident and not mobile phones.
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