is living in the same room with computers bad for you.

M

moetop

[H]ard|Gawd
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I put this in the Folding forum, because I knew you guys would have the best answer to this question, because of the "farms".

I just (last night) moved most of my PC's from the basement to a small room. (4 PC's 1 being a dual 2.8 Ghz Xeon, and the others 2.8+ Ghz P4's) My finance just E-mailed me that there is a smell of Ozone in the air. I am hoping that there is not something blown, but if there isn’t, do computers emit anything other than noise and heat that can be detrimental to humans?
 
my monitor keeps putting out moose crap all over.

No, nothing bad from puters (I hope...)
 
hey Moe

you should be fine

maybe some fresh air? open a window? take a shower? :D



 
Under normal operation your computer will not be putting out anything hazardous to your health. That smell is not normal though.
 
the only down side is heat and fans.... but in the winter it is good and the fans... become white noise and make it hard to sleep without

 
ryan_975 said:
I thought ozone was odorless.
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You thought wrong:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozone

Ozone, the first allotrope of a chemical element to be described by science, was discovered by Christian Friedrich Schönbein in 1840, who named it after the Greek word for smell (ozein), from the peculiar odor in lightning storms.
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The concentration above which it can be smelt (odor threshold) is between 0.0076 and 0.036 ppm[5].
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CRT monitors emit gamma-rays that in large quantities (lots of monitors for long periods of exposure) could be harmful.. But the actual EM emmisions from computers themselves are so incredibly low you get more gama-ray radiation being outside under the sun..
 
only thing i could think of that would make ozone from a computer is if something inside your powersupply is arcing... which would be bad
 
kaleb_zero said:
CRT monitors emit gamma-rays that in large quantities (lots of monitors for long periods of exposure) could be harmful.. But the actual EM emmisions from computers themselves are so incredibly low you get more gama-ray radiation being outside under the sun..
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No, they do not.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma_radiation

CRTs accelerate electrons towards a blocking screen. Xrays? Maybe. Really low energy ones at that.

There is no nuclear activity going on inside a CRT so there are no Gamma Rays.


This is how a CRT works:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathode_ray_tube

Please note the Health Danger section.
 
sometimes I think it's the small of all the air being blown across plastic/ABS which people mis take for ozone
 
LCD ftw...

I don't think it poses a health risk at all, maybe just mental health...
 
kaleb_zero said:
...well the gamma ray thing is what my mom told me.. lol.. :rolleyes:
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Moms don't know much about puters and boxen. At least mine don't.
 
Met-AL said:
He must have been talking about those new fancy fission monitors... :D
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I gots me one of them bad boys in the basement. It may not be fission, but it's 1986 orange plasma. That thing HURTS after a while.
 
drizzt81 said:
You thought wrong:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozone
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Take note that I didn't come in here flaming the OP like an idiot shouting that OZONE IS ODORLESS YOUR IMAGINING THINGS. It was more of a question I (incorrectly) formed as a statement. Your response was a little uncalled for. If it wasn't the way I took it then I apologize, but it's just the second post you've directed at me that I've seemed a little more condescending that it shoulld have been.

I'm sorry for the threadcrap, back to the stinky ozone discussion, now that I'vve been corrected about its odorific properties.
 
I think that if she is smelling ozone you should definitely check out your computers.
 
You had better post some pictures, of her, so we can diagnose this further.
 
it's probably no worse than your farts and burps.. maybe that's what your gf is smelling.. :D
 
The only time my room smelled was when a voltage regulator burnt out. I could smell it all the way up to the second floor of the house. Otherwise I never notice the 6 computers -- well I do notice the fans and the heat, but that is normal.

Other things that I sometimes smell is laser printer toner. I've read a couple of articles that say that the toner is the best thing to breath in day in and day out.

--Oh also, I'd suggest checking your motherboards out and make sure that nothing is burnt or scorched. Maybe a usb jack melted, or some other power area, and that is what you are smelling.

 
marty9876 said:
sometimes I think it's the small of all the air being blown across plastic/ABS which people mis take for ozone
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I'm almost certain that's what's happening. Warm air + plastic = interesting smells, even though they aren't harmful. And they'll go away.

There's nothing dangerous about being in a room full of computers per se. Sure, something weird could happen (heh, we should start a thread for that) but nothing dangerous.

CRTs don't emit gamma rays. If anything, they'll let out X-rays, but even then it won't be anything remotely close to a harmful level, even long-term. Part of the reason CRTs are so heavy is because of the lead in the glass--it's there to block any bad EM radiation.
 
Thanks guys. Basicaly you confirmed everything I was thinking. No CRT's just lcd's. I just wanted to make sure I was not missing anything.
 
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