The Use of High-Power Electromagnetic Pulses on Bacteria and Viruses
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The Use of High-Power Electromagnetic Pulses on Bacteria and Viruses Academician Yu. V. Gulyaeva,*, I. V. Taranova,**, and Corresponding Member of the RAS V. A. Cherepenina,*** Received May 12, 2020revised May 12, 2020; accepted May 18, 2020
Abstract—The hypothesis about the possibility of using strong electromagnetic pulses for effective action on bacteria and viruses is discussed. A simple coronavirus model that allows us to obtain in a quasi-static approximation estimates of the electric field strength is analyzed. Keywords: electromagnetic pulse, effects on viruses, pondermotive force DOI: 10.1134/S1028335820070034
The problem of the effect of electromagnetic waves on biological media or objects has a relatively long history. In relation to medical aspects, various diagnostic methods, physiotherapy, and determination of permissible radiation doses were studied when working with radiating devices used for communication, radar, or other applications. In recent years, work has appeared on the effects of microwaves on bacteria and viruses. Thus, in [1], a mechanism of resonant action on viruses based on the transformation of electromagnetic waves into acoustic ones is proposed. This communication is about nonthermal effects on biological objects of powerful electromagnetic pulses, the characteristic frequencies of which lie in the microwave range and the duration of which is in the nanosecond range. Such pulses were used to extract precious metals from refractory ores [2], to open vesicles in solving the problem of targeted drug delivery [3, 4], and to determine effects on the cell membrane [5], as well as in some other applications. The physical idea of these studies, in contrast to their implementation, is quite simple. When exposed to a pulse with high field strength E, charges arise on the medium with electrophysical inhomogeneities at the interfaces, which provoke various, rather complex physical phenomena, such as micro-breakdowns, mechanical deformation, and cracking under the action of pondermotor forces and aKotelnikov Institute of Radioengineering and Electronics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia * e-mail: [email protected] ** e-mail: [email protected] *** e-mail: [email protected]
other processes leading to modification of the medium. In particular, when exposed to biological objects with sizes of 0.1–1 μm, which is characteristic of viruses and bacteria, their destruction is possible. It should be noted that the effectiveness of the effect depends on the shape of the bio-object; in particular, the COVID-19 virus has characteristic nano-protrusions [6–9], which facilitate penetration into the body cell. As is known, the field strength near micro- or nano-points increases, which should lead to damage at a lower value of the external field strength. Here are some estimates for a fairly simple model that demonstrates a pondermotor effect. As a model of the spiny process containing receptor-binding proteins and forming the “solar corona” of the virus, we choose a dielectric ellipsoid. Consider th
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