10/20/21, 1:12 PM A Quick Expalantion of the term "decibel"

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What is a Decibel"
We may all be familiar with the term decibel as it applies to sound level, but
what does it really mean" And what does it have to do with EMFs"

Decibel is not really a unit of measurement. Rather, it is a way to describe

the ratio of one intensity measurement to another. Expressing it this way is a
useful for engineers to make comparisons and is much simpler than using
percentages.

For example: it is much easier to say a material shields the power from a
radio tower by 120 dB (decibels) than the equivalent 99.9999999999%.

Using decibels we can compare the field intensity before and after an event,
or compare a measured intensity to a known reference. We can use it to
compare electric fields, magnetic fields or even radiofrequency intensity.

We can use decibels for describing the ratio of both fields and powers. But
which one should we use and why"

Fields

One formula for calculating decibels, when describing fields, is:

field* measurement before event

dB = 20 log --------------------------------------
field measurement after event

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10/20/21, 1:12 PM A Quick Expalantion of the term "decibel"

* Field measurements such as mG, V/m etc.

We can use this formula to compare the effectiveness of an EMF shield.

Also using this formula, we can generate the following graph which allows
us to easily convert from dB to % shielding (notice that because of the
logarithmic relationship, values in excess of 20 dB represent field strength
reduction of more than 90%!):

Powers

Furthermore, when comparing power ratios, the formula is modified

slightly, but this yields a big difference in results:

power* measurement before event

dB = 10 log --------------------------------------
power measurement after event

** Power measurements such as mW/cm² etc.

Notice that using this formula, values in excess of 20 dB represent field

strength reduction of more than 99%!):

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10/20/21, 1:12 PM A Quick Expalantion of the term "decibel"

POWER FIELD
Power
%
%
Field
%
%

dB
Ratio Attenuation Transmission Ratio Attenuation Transmission
0 1.000 0 100 1.00 0 100
1 1.259 21 79 1.12 11 89
2 1.585 37 63 1.26 21 79
3 2.000 50 50 1.41 29 71
4 2.512 60 40 1.58 37 63
5 3.162 68 32 1.78 44 56
6 4.000 75 25 2.00 50 50
7 5.013 80 20 2.24 55 45
8 6.310 84 16 2.51 60 40
9 7.941 87 13 2.82 65 35
10 10 90 10 3.16 68 32
15 31.6 96.8 3.2 5.62 82 18
20 100 99 1 10 90 10
25 316 99.7 .3 17.8 94.4 5.6
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10/20/21, 1:12 PM A Quick Expalantion of the term "decibel"

30 1000 99.9 .1 31.6 97 3

35 3162 99.97 .03 56.2 98.2 1.8
40 10,000 99.99 .01 100 99 1
50 100,000 99.999 .001 316 99.7 .3
60 1,000,000 99.9999 .0001 1000 99.9 .1
80 100,000,000 99.999999 .00001 10,000 99.99 .01
100 1,000,000,000 99.99999999 .000001 100,000 99.999 .001

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