Electromagnetic radiation and its effect on yeast

[jacquie523]

My friend and I are doing my science fair project on electromagnetic radiation and how it affects organism growth. We would also like to test different materials to see if they prevent the EMFs from affecting the organisms. We want to use yeast to test how it is affected, and we have a few questions:
a) how long should the yeast be exposed to the appliances (a cell phone, a microwave and radio are currently what we expect to use)
b) do you have any suggestions on what materials to test - we were thinking of using a sheet of copper, possibly some kind of ceramic
c) ideas for how we would place the materials between the petri dishes and the appliances without affecting the yeast - is there anything we need to know about if the yeast may be affected in a way that is not caused by the EMFs
d) is there any particular strand of yeast that would work best or will baker's yeast be fine?

thanks so much

[yvetteds]

Hi - You have a lot of great questions that you are asking as you start your research into this project.
Have you looked at the ideas on science buddies - Maybe you can use this one :

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... og#summary

Read over the summary, the procedure and materials and how to make this project your own.

Hope this is a good start.

Good luck!

[jacquie523]

Thanks so much! I had not seen that project but the information and ideas are helping me

[yvetteds]

You are welcome - you'll need to do some research about how to grow yeast. Do a search for others who have done experiments like the one you are proposing and see what they have found out.
good luck!

[SciB]

Hi Jacquie,

That's an interesting and useful project that you are planning. We all would like to be sure that our smart phones aren't damaging our brain cells!

I do have some suggestions. Sources of emf are all around us but in order to test them you need to somehow isolate one type from all the others. This is something you need to research online. Do a google search for 'faraday cage' which is an enclosure that can block emf.

With regard to the sources of emf, a smart phone is good because it is always sending some kind of emf signals. Radios, however, don't SEND emf--they receive it in the form of radio waves. It is true that all electrical devices generate some sort of weak emf, but you would need an emf meter to measure how much.

Microwaves will definitely affect the yeast. In fact, if you put them inside a microwave and gave them a few seconds on high it would probably kill all of them from the heat! You will need to do some preliminary experiments using the LOWEST setting on the microwave to find out how long to expose the yeast so as not to kill all of them. As for shielding the petri dish from microwaves, a metal like aluminum foil should work, but as you probably know, you should not run a microwave with metal inside as it can damage the unit or even cause a fire. Here again you will need to do some research to find the proper material and conditions to block microwaves SAFELY.

The other question i have concerns what 'affect' you plan to measure and how you will do it. I would guess that you were just thinking about survival of the yeast--killing of the cells by the emf. There are ways to measure this. You need to do some reading as Yvette suggested on working with yeast and then plan how to do the assay to accurately measure an affect of emf.

Pay particular attention to timing. How long should you 'irradiate' the yeast with emf? Humans are exposed to emf of various kinds 24 hr a day. The emf's are weak, however, and their effects on humans may not show up for years if ever. If you are looking to kill yeast with emf within a reasonable length of time, you are going to have to use higher than normal levels.

Good luck and keep posting your questions and we will try to steer you along into a really great project.

Sybee