Do Airports emit harmful radiation from radar?

Question

Hey guys, I might be going to a college that is about 1/2 a mile away from an airport. You can literally see the radar rotate from the college steps. I'm concerned about my health because I've heard that radar emits harmful radiation. Is this true? Please offer some educated advice. Thank you!

Answer 1

lets make it simple ,
there are many radar principles as you can see , some say radio waves , some say microwaves and some electromagnetic ,

actually the radar consist of almost every thing passing near by them is same as walking by under a street light the only true answer is the particles emitted by tracking radars are not a form of harmful radiation , just screw the science and think about the people who work there , specially the air hostesses be cool you re lucky you have a air port near ya collage lots of cool girls ehhh.

Answer 2

Radar signals are in radio wave frequencies. Since the strength of the signal coming from the antenna is inversely proportional to the square of the distance, the energy that will reach your body is very small unless you get very close to the source. This energy however is not the same as gamma radiation from a radioactive source. The effect of this radio frequency radiation will be just heat like a microwave oven. It will cook you.

Answer 3

Today's radar technology is much more advanced than it was 50 years ago. At that time the pulse power of a primary radar was much more than a microwave oven. But today it's only about 100th of that due to progress on the receiver side that can process much weaker return signals. Today you have a higher dose of radiation when you use a cell phone than what you ever may receive from an Air Traffic Control radar.

Answer 4

The radar emits electromagnetic radiation, but whether that is harmful to you is a difficult question. Are you affected by the em radiation in your own house (TVs, Computers, even fluorescent lamps etc. emit radiation) or are you affected by the radiation emitted by the cell phone towers? If so, you may be affected by this source also. If not, probably not to worry.

Answer 5

I watched Mythbusters on the Discovery channel. They measured the radiation given off by the radar and found it barely registered. It is safe to sit on one every day for your entire life, basically.

Answer 6

I guess you'd better be careful about going to college in a town that has a radio station too.