Constraints of thermal noise on the effects of weak 60-Hz magnetic fields acting on biological magnetite.

Abstract

Previous calculations of limits imposed by thermal noise on the effects of weak 60-Hz magnetic fields on biological magnetite are generalized and extended to consider multiple signals, the possibility of anomalously large magnetosome structures, and the possibility of anomalously small cytoplasm viscosities. The results indicate that the energies transmitted to the magnetite elements by fields less than 5 microT, characteristic of the electric power distribution system, will be much less than thermal noise energies. Hence, the effects of such weak fields will be masked by that noise and cannot be expected to affect biology or, therefore, the health of populations.