[OPLINTECH] Magnetic Paint & WiFi

[Nathan Eady]

joe <knuevejo at oplin.org> writes:

> You know, I hadn't thought about this when the question was posed, but
> if you are someone who really hates having cell phones ringing in your
> library, and wanted to set a quiet area as a ringing phone free zone,
> if the metal paint would actually create a Faraday Cage effect, you
> could use these magnet paints, paint the walls, and ceiling (perhaps
> above a drop ceiling?) and create an area where cell phones would
> either not work or work very poorly, without installing anything that
> would anger the FCC..

There was a news story a couple of years back about an outfit that was
making a special paint specifically for the purpose of blocking cellular
signal, in order to create cellphone-free environments.  (I believe the
article mentioned theaters and churches as potential customers.)

However, I think the paint in that case was more than just metallic.
ISTR that the "how it works" explanation involved suspending something
special in the paint, more than just a bit of metal.  It might've been
some kind of complex mollecule, but I don't remember the details at this
point (it's been a couple of years).  The article also mentioned that a
signal repeating system (effectively, receivers and retransmitters)
could be used to actively permit signals in and out at certain times (or
usually, even, and you could then turn the repeater off whenever you
want the phones to stop working).

Of course, just because a company put out a press release about their
super-duper high-tech signal-blocking paint doesn't preclude the
possibility that anything metallic, including plain old aluminum foil
wallpaper, might work just as well.  I don't know how to verify that one
way or the other short of testing it.

-- 
Nathan Eady
Galion Public Library