You have surely heard or it happened to you that your credit or transport card was demagnetized by the simple waves even of a mobile. So imagine what a machine like the one they use in airports can have.
X-rays and electronic equipment
Arriving at one of these controls, they make us leave our computer, mobile phone, smartwatch and other devices on a tray that goes through an x-ray scanner without any type of protection.
The first thing we need to know is What are these types of waves and who do they affect?
X-rays are a form of ionizing radiation. This means that the photons that make up these rays have the energy to release electrons from atoms and generate positive ions. This ionizing capacity can damage biological tissues when exposed to high doses. However, it is important to note that electronic devices are not made up of cells and therefore are not affected in the same way as people.
In other words, according to this, our teams are safe from any radiation, no matter how strong, because they do not share the materials that these waves harm, do they?
Well, not quite. Because storage devices such as USB sticks, SSDs or SD cards could be affected if they are exposed to certain levels of radiation because they represent information using binary values.
That is, theoretically, high intensity X-rays could change the value stored in a cell from 1 to 0 or vice versa and cause information loss or data corruption, thus leaving us without our files and their contents, get to the point of being able to modify part of the OS and that our computer does not start.
While this is quite unlikely and very rare to see, that doesn’t mean it can’t happen, and while a screen or other component that doesn’t have living cells is unaffected by radiation, it does can cause us a problem in our computers.
As a recommendation, you already know what I’m going to tell you. Always have a backup in the cloud or at home in case something like this happens, but don’t be scared anyway, it’s like thinking the plane is going to crash, it can happen, but it’s not normal. We’re just giving you the fact that the possibility exists, it’s not trivial to our teams as many believe.
You can now go on a quiet journey (or not) and remember me when you switch your devices under lightning control. Surely you think that nothing ever touches you and that it will happen to you, but you will see how not.
