The tale of an opera singer hitting a certain note and causing wine glasses to shatter is a well known one, although the truth of a person really being able to do so is debatable. I'm curious what applications this might have in other fields though.

Take microwave ovens for instance, which use microwaves at certain frequencies to cause water molecules in food to vibrate, causing heat, and resulting being a cooked dinner. The industry standard for microwave ovens is at around 2.4GHz I believe.

Could this same method be used on other things, such as micro-organisms? Bacteria and viruses for instance, in particular. If each organism possesses its own resonating frequency, is it not possible that one could use high powered microwaves at their specific frequencies in order to resonate the organisms so much that they would eventually be destroyed?

A scientist/inventor in the early 1900s named Royal Raymond Rife thought so. He claimed he could destroy any organism that way once the right frequency was discovered for each particular one. In general, he was thought by many to simply be a quack. My curiosity gets the best of me though, and I am left wondering: Is there some scientific law that is being broken in the above theory which could be the basis for his claims being thrown out the window as nonsense by scientific and medical establishments? There seems to be very little research done on the subject.

I've looked around for information on the possibilities of such a thing existing, but have found very little. Not being particularly educated in either the fields of science nor microbiology myself, (although I am thoroughly interested in both), I ask if anyone else might have some opinions and comments to offer on the subject.

*bump*

Anyone at all able to comment on this?

Hm..., maybe, but i'm not sure at all. This reminds me about a thing I was told a while ago. If you sit in a car with loud "pounding" music, if these pounds goes in the same speed as your organs the might start pounding as well.

The thing with viruses and bacterias sounds intresting, I hope someone with more knowledge on the subject can comment it, because myself. I don't know very much about it.

most micro organisms have the same resonating frequencies as many proteins that make up our bodys. even if the frequency is slightly different , if applied to a person it will still cause their particles to heat up. your idea would be useable if there was a great difference in resonation frequencies but alas :(

I read about a kid who invented a way to kill mosquito larvae with ultrasonic resonance. Apparantly the little buggers bodies resonate at some specific frequency and are killed when this frequency is excited by a speaker placed in the water. Effective range was only about 15 feet so it isn't really that practical but cool just the same.



Electromagnetic waves are different than mechanical waves. The problem with resonating individual atoms is that all life forms are made of basically the same stuff. I'm no expert but this is the way I see it.
-Alex

The tale of an opera singer hitting a certain note and causing wine glasses to shatter is a well known one, although the truth of a person really being able to do so is debatable. I'm curious what applications this might have in other fields though.

It is possible. I have seen it on TV ;) . Seriously, it was a science show, and I assume no trickery was involved. It wasn't an opera singer, btw, but a physicist who did it (he had an impressive voice).

Take microwave ovens for instance, which use microwaves at certain frequencies to cause water molecules in food to vibrate, causing heat, and resulting being a cooked dinner. The industry standard for microwave ovens is at around 2.4GHz I believe.

This is not entirely correct. The micro oven does not work by resonance, it works by the conductive loss in the heated object. If you use a micro-oven, you may have noticed that some objects (certain porcelains and most melamine containers) get hot, even if empty. The microwaves simply induce electrical currents in the matter, and the radio energy is converted to heat.

Could this same method be used on other things, such as micro-organisms? Bacteria and viruses for instance, in particular. If each organism possesses its own resonating frequency, is it not possible that one could use high powered microwaves at their specific frequencies in order to resonate the organisms so much that they would eventually be destroyed?

No, because electrical reonance cannot be acieved in the lossy environment where you find such micro organisms. Plus, as other posters already noted, the resonance frequencies of micro organisms would not be significantly different from those of healthy tissue :eek:.

A scientist/inventor in the early 1900s named Royal Raymond Rife thought so. He claimed he could destroy any organism that way once the right frequency was discovered for each particular one. In general, he was thought by many to simply be a quack. My curiosity gets the best of me though, and I am left wondering: Is there some scientific law that is being broken in the above theory which could be the basis for his claims being thrown out the window as nonsense by scientific and medical establishments? There seems to be very little research done on the subject.

Because the initial research showed it to be nonsense.

I've looked around for information on the possibilities of such a thing existing, but have found very little. Not being particularly educated in either the fields of science nor microbiology myself, (although I am thoroughly interested in both), I ask if anyone else might have some opinions and comments to offer on the subject.

You got it.

Hans