How much radiation do computers emit?

Question

How much radiation do computers (PCs, laptops, etc.) emit? What precautions can users take to prevent/reduce the effects of this radiation?

Solution 1

To follow-on to Ignacio's answer, everything emits various amounts of some kind of radiation.

For our purposes, there's two kinds of radiation that are relevant: bad radiation (ionizing radiation, will hurt you eventually) and not-bad radiation (everything else). I use the term "not-bad" instead of "good" in that it isn't beneficial but neither is it harmful. It's just there.

Your computer and peripherals emit very little or no bad (ionizing) radiation. If they emit any, it's far less than you would get walking around outside for twenty minutes.

tl;dr: no.

Solution 2

That all depends on what you define as "Radiation".

You get some small amounts of Electromagnetic Radiation from all electronic devices. You don't get anything nasty like you used to out of the back of old unshielded CRT monitors (modern ones are shielded and don't emit very much at all).

CDRom drives do have a laser in them which emits laser radiation - only harmful if it is shone directly into the eye.

Heat is also a form of radiation

Other than that, no, nothing. You certainly don't get anything like nuclear radiation or anything of that ilk.

Solution 3

You probably want "ionizing radiation", as in a pedantic reading all the light, sound, and heat the thing puts our are "radiation".

To answer the question: with the CRT mostly a thing of the past the biggest sources are probably naturally occurring radioisotopes in the germanium (Ge-68) in the chips and the heavy metals on/in the boards (lots of Uranium daughters). In both cases the quantities are negligible.

Solution 4

If you are using a CRT monitor (rare these days), it will emit a small amount of X-ray radiation, as does a similar TV. Other than that, I am not aware of any computer components that emit radiation of a type to be concerned with.

With early computer monitors there was some concern, and some operators would wear an lead apron. Monitors were improved to reduce the level of radiation they produced, and the need for precautions was believed to have been eliminated.

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Comments

[Greg Jennings]

If you gave -1 to users who asked questions on Superuser instead of researching, then 90% of the questions would get -1 from you. I don't agree with you on this.

[Cajunluke]

@Mehper Thanks for the edit. I can't believe I misspelled "tl;dr".

[Greg Jennings]

No worries. Sometimes it happens to us all ;)

[Doltknuckle]

That's a fair criticism, though many of the questions on this site deal with technology and working with it. This question demonstrates a lack of understanding of basic scientific principals. The research is trivial and a 5 minute google search would have allowed the person to ask a more educated question.

[Doltknuckle]

I also have a clarification: Do you disagree with the content of the answer or the -1 to the question?

[Greg Jennings]

I didn't give the downvote, and as to the content of your answer, thanks for your effort for posting the web findings and your comments; but I'm more interested in the answers which contain info other than web findings.

[Greg Jennings]

As an answer to your comment "This question demonstrates a lack of understanding of basic scientific principals": I'm asking about how much radiation computers emit, and I don't think this is basic. @Kyle has posted a link to a radiation chart which was very interesting and helpful. I do think people should know health risks they may be exposed while using computers, and this particular question is helpful in this manner.

[Doltknuckle]

That is where we disagree. I don't feel that the question as it stands is all that helpful. It is a simple question, asked as if you knew nothing of radiation and the science of electromagnetism. While I can't possible expect you to know everything before you ask a question, I do expect at least a passing attempt to research your question. This site is to answer questions on the usage of computer hardware and software. This question only tangentially relates to those topics.

[Doltknuckle]

This topic is of concern of all who use technology, and my intent was not to down vote the topic. My intent was to point out that you should do some research on your own before you ask your question. Bringing your questions to the table with your findings so far was all I really wanted to see.

[Meringros]

...breathes a sigh of relief. Picks up his cell phone...

[Breakthrough]

CRT televisions/monitors only emit xrays when the electron gun's forward voltage exceeds 30kV. No CRT is run on this voltage, due to this fact (they are all run on less), but some older ones failed in a way that the electron gun voltage would raise to artificially high levels, causing xray emissions. That being said, nearly all modern (read: post-1970's) CRTs have overvoltage protection built into them.

[BillThor]

@Breakthrough: All the documentation I have seen have specified that they still produce an insignificant amount of radiation. Levels are very low at very close ranges. However, I do appreciate your explanation of high does from CRTs.

[Registered User]

Since you say it produces a little, how many sieverts of that 'little'?