Metal conductivity question

How is it that metal coils in a spring mattress, and a metal bedframe, are said to attract EMF frequencies, but things like aluminum foil, wire mesh and silver fabrics block/reduce EMF frequencies?

I have made a wire mesh cover for a smart meter at my shop and also made a 2-layer aluminum foil barrier for a wall where there is a modem on the other side, and both show reduced readings on my Acousticom2.

So I'm trying to understand how this all works.  I'm about to try a cheap Faraday cage made of aluminum emergency blankets to put over the bed as the Verizon FIOS was just "upgraded" in the house where I rent an apartment and there is now a new signal going through the house that I can't identify and is also causing my ears to ring a bit and making sleep difficult.  I was previously sleeping on a coil mattress that was atop a metal bedframe with no legs, just propped up on two wooden boxes.  I got rid of the bedframe and am now just sleeping on the mattress on the floor.

On January 21, "WiFried [via ES]" <[hidden email]> wrote:
> How is it that metal coils in a spring mattress, and a metal bedframe, are
> said to attract EMF frequencies, but things like aluminum foil, wire mesh
> and silver fabrics block/reduce EMF frequencies?

I think that Charles used to say the springs in a mattress could become magnetized, and that people were reacting to that?  

Marc

Mark is correct.  Here are two articles that discuss this idea.

https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/11/11/is-your-mattress-making-you-sick.aspx

(excerpt Dr. Doris J. Rapp, MD, board-certified as both an environmental medical specialist and pediatric allergist, discusses the dangerous chemicals that may be lurking inside your mattress.)

Is Your Mattress Magnetized?

The springs used to support your mattress can be magnetized, but sleeping on a mattress that has magnetized springs is not a good idea for your health. A simple way to confirm that the mattress you’re purchasing isn’t magnetized is to take a liquid-filled compass and move it over the entire surface of the mattress.

If the compass reading for the north pole is not deflected more than 10 degrees, then the likelihood of the springs being magnetized is pretty low.


http://www.emfnews.org/articles/your-mattress-could-be-acting-as-a-cancer-causing-radiation-antenna/

Your Mattress Could be Acting as a Cancer-Causing Radiation Antenna

(excerpt)

Scientific American explains this quite well:

“Antennas are simply metal objects of appropriate length sized to match the wavelength of a specific frequency of electromagnetic radiation. Just as saxophones are made in different sizes to resonate with and amplify particular wavelengths of sound, electromagnetic waves are selectively amplified by metal objects that are the same, half or one quarter of the wavelength of an electromagnetic wave of a specific frequency.

Electromagnetic waves resonate on a half-wavelength antenna to create a standing wave with a peak at the middle of the antenna and a node at each end, just as when a string stretched between two points is plucked at the center.

In the U.S. bed frames and box springs are made of metal, and the length of a bed is exactly half the wavelength of FM and TV transmissions that have been broadcasting since the late 1940s.

… Radiation envelops our bodies so that the maximum strength of the field develops 75 centimeters above the mattress in the middle of our bodies.

When sleeping on the right side, the body’s left side will thereby be exposed to field strength about twice as strong as what the right side absorbs.”

Could this explain why Japan has much lower rates of cancer compared to the US and Europe, and why the Japanese do not have higher rates of left- than right-sided breast cancer?

I believe it may be a part of the puzzle, yes.

Naturally, there are many other factors that come into play as well, including diet, chemical exposures, and vitamin D deficiency, just to name a few.

However, the theory that you may be promoting cancer by sleeping on a metal coil-spring mattress that amplifies ambient radiation is quite convincing.

Now, a couple of my readers have commented that the quote from Scientific American makes little sense because TV and radio broadcast on a number of different wavelengths, and beds come in many different sizes.

These concerns can also be valid, and I make no claims of having the in-depth technological expertise to either support or refute this particular Scientific American author’s explanation.

However, I believe sleeping on metal is not in your best interest health-wise, (and qualified scientist raised the question to begin with). The total effect will naturally be entirely individual, and dependent on a number of factors, such as the amount of radiation zipping through your room; proximity to transmission towers; number and type of electronics kept in your bedroom and their proximity; your current state of health and your susceptibility to EMF; the material of the rest of your bed… I could go on, but I’m sure most of you are wise enough to get the picture.

WiFried wrote

How is it that metal coils in a spring mattress, and a metal bedframe, are said to attract EMF frequencies, but things like aluminum foil, wire mesh and silver fabrics block/reduce EMF frequencies?

Induction.

The Wikipedia article about it is a little hard to read, but the short version is that if you move a magnet closer to a wire or sheet of metal, an electric current will begin to flow in that wire/sheet that creates its own field magnetic field. The field from the current flowing will always be oriented in the opposite direction relative to the magnetic field that causes ("Induces") it, so it cancels-out any change in the magnetic field strength caused by moving the magnet closer. Likewise for the magnetic portion of a radio wave. This is all temporary because the resistance in the wire slows the current down and eventually stops it.

Current can't flow in the coil springs in a bed because there's nowhere for it to go once it reaches either end of the coil. But if you connect the ends of the coil together with a small wire, it would block magnetic fields in one direction while creating a small field in another direction (from the wire connecting the two ends).

Aluminum foil or screen can block electric fields too, but the amount of current flowing is tiny and it's not necessary to have a complete loop or circuit.