Froehlich (1973, 1975) suggested that giant dipole
moments may be formed during enzyme substrate reactions and
that the corresponding dielectric absorption processes might
be highly resonant and nonlinear, and likely to channel
energy into lower frequency modes of vibration. He also
considered the membrane as a likely site of resonant
electromagnetic (EM) interactions; and from the velocity of
sound and the membrane thickness, he derived an estimate of
the resonant frequencies to be of the order of 100 GHz.
Acceleration and deceleration of a variety of biological
responses that suggest resonances in the millimeter frequency
range have been reported by Webb and Booth (1971), by
Devyatkov (1974), and more recently by Grundier et al.
(1977). But some of these studies have been criticized on
technical grounds, and the Russian work (only summarized in
1974) has not yet been published in detail. Gandhi et al.
(1979) conducted continuous dielectric spectroscopy
measurements at millimeter-wave frequencies with no
indication of any resonance processes. Also, on a variety of
cellular processes they found no effects of millimeter-wave
radiation that were not attributable to sample heating. But
the resonance phenomena reported by Grundler et al. and
postulated by Froehlich may only involve a minor fraction of
the total cellular entity and thus not demonstrate itself
strongly enough to be observed in the bulk dielectric
data.

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Last modified: June 14, 1997
© October 1986, USAF School of Aerospace Medicine, Aerospace Medical Division (AFSC), Brooks Air Force Base, TX 78235-5301