[Phys-L] Re: Natural Gas versus Electricity

[zeke_kossover at YAHOO.COM (Marc "Zeke" Kossover)]

It is hard to imagine that electric blankets could
cause cancer in the usual ways since the radiation is
of such low energy. After all, the frequency is only
60 Hz. The infrared radiation is the same as from any
other warm source. According to PubMed
<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Search&db=PubMed&term=electric+blanket+cancer&tool=QuerySuggestion>,
large studies have shown little effect on breast
cancer or testicular cancer. (There was one notable
exception in a smaller study of African American
women.)

In addition, most new electric blankets have the
heating elements twisted together rather than in a
loop. By twisting the elements where the EMF's are in
opposite directions, the resultant EMF is very small,
perhaps even undetectable. My electric blanket, for
example, shows no flux on my meter.

Fire is a risk, so be sure to buy blankets approved by
UL.

Marc "Zeke" Kossover

--- "Polvani, Donald G." <donald.polvani@NGC.COM>
wrote:

> The recent list discussion on natural gas versus
> electric heating cos=
> ts
> has surprised me.  A quick check of our gas and
> electric bill for las=
> t
> month in Annapolis, Maryland reveals a natural gas
> cost of $0.086/kWh
> and a electricity cost of $0.075/kWh.  These costs
> include all delive=
> ry
> charges and taxes.  Our two year old gas furnace is
> 80% efficient, so=
>  we
> are paying significantly more to heat with gas than
> with electricity.
>
> What are the thoughts of the list on using electric
> blankets when
> sleeping at night?  Right now my wife, who always
> feels colder than m=
> e,
> preheats our electric blanket before getting into
> bed.  She then shut=
> s
> it off when going to sleep because of concerns
> (which I share) that
> there might be a cancer risk in long term use of the
> blanket.  We,
> therefore, keep our thermostat higher at night to
> stay warm.  Using t=
> he
> electric blanket all night, we could lower the
> thermostat.
>
> Don Polvani
> Northrop Grumman Corp
> Annapolis, MD



__________________________________
Yahoo! FareChase: Search multiple travel sites in one click.
http://farechase.yahoo.com