Our group conducted research to determine if there is any correlation between how much energy a cell phone uses and how much radiation it emits. We recorded the energy used by measuring the amount of power necessary to run the phone while it made a one minute phone call. The power ran from the wall through the Watts Up Pro to the phone charger, and finally to the phone. This gave us the number of watts used, displayed in the table below. We measured the radiation emitted using the RF meter, which gave us radiation in volts per meter.

Our data shows that phones that use fewer watts do, in fact, emit less radiation. The graph displays that there is some correlation. However, to identify this trend conclusively more research is required.  The data suggests that smart phones use, on average, more energy than phones without those capabilities, known as feature phones. Six of the top seven power-using phones we tested were smart phones, while the majority of the remainder were feature phones. While the smart phones may use more power, they don’t appear to emit more radiation. It is possible that phone makers work harder to reduce the amount of radiation emitted by their more expensive models. A potential source of error in our experiment could be that we tested phones of different service providers.  Phones with bad service in the area we tested them (the Retreat) probably had to work harder (and use more energy) to get service during the call. To find a true correlation, if there is one at all, we would need to take more data and take phone providers into account. Our data suggests that there may be a correlation, which certainly warrants more investigation.

In our research project we will compare the amount of radiation emitted by a cell phone relative to the energy input of the device.  To measure the microwave radiation emitted by the device we will use a RF sensor. To find the energy input of each device we will use a Watts Up Pro plugged into a fully charged cellular device. We will then observe how many watts of energy each devices uses while performing a standardized function, in this case, a one minute phone call.  We expect to find that cellular phones with a higher energy input will emit more microwave radiation.