{"id":537882,"date":"2026-01-23T21:09:34","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T21:09:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/537882\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T21:09:34","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T21:09:34","slug":"this-lamp-visualizes-the-perpetual-electromagnetic-storm-in-which-we-live","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/537882\/","title":{"rendered":"This Lamp Visualizes the Perpetual Electromagnetic Storm in Which We Live"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cYou are standing in a storm,\u201d says YouTuber Rootkid. \u201cYou just can\u2019t see it. But what if you could?\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s referring to the electromagnetic radiation given off by our electronic devices, and in particular, the portion of the spectrum that lies between 2.4 Ghz and 5 Ghz. These are the frequencies that carry data between our various wireless devices\u2014wifi, but also cordless landline phones, Bluetooth devices, and microwave ovens, to name a few.<\/p>\n

To answer his own question\u2014\u201cWhat if we could?\u201d\u2014 Rootkid constructed a device<\/a> that he calls \u201cSpectrum Slit,\u201d a wall-mounted visualizer that provides a visible representation of the levels of ambient radiation in the 2.4 GHz\u20135 Ghz band. The signals it picks aren\u2019t just from Rootkid\u2019s own devices\u2014as he explains, the device\u2019s antenna picks up signals in a 30-meter radius.<\/p>\n

The device is based on something called a HackRF 1<\/a>, a software-controlled radio that can monitor a wide range of radio and microwave frequencies. The HackRF 1 is connected to a Raspberry Pi, which runs the accompanying software (written by Rootkid himself on a laptop that\u2014in a delightfully French touch\u2014has a full-screen picture of Fran\u00e7oise Hardy as its wallpaper.) The software monitors the 2.4 Ghz\u20135 Ghz band and divides it into 64 sections, each of which is set to control the brightness of a strip of warm yellow LEDs; the stronger the signal, the brighter the strip of lights.<\/p>\n

The result looks like a supersized version of a graphic equalizer from a fancy stereo. It\u2019s also loud: Rootkid explains that the coils that contain the individual driver circuit for each row of LEDs vibrate slightly, giving off an audible hum, and the rate at which it vibrates is dependent on the LED\u2019s brightness. This means that the pitch of the hum changes with changes in the amount of traffic in the frequency range that a given LED strip is set to monitor; as he explains in a comment, \u201cWhen running, you can hear each burst of data\u2026 pretty disturbing actually.\u201d (It must be said that in the video, at least, Rootkid seems more delighted than disturbed by this unexpected development.)<\/p>\n

The completed Spectrum Slit is both a lovely piece of wall art and a genuinely fascinating insight into the world of wireless communication. Rootkid\u2019s video follows him as he monitors the device over the course of a day. He watches as network traffic ebbs and flows during the day, before the arrival of various neighbors, home from work, sees the entire spectrum light up.<\/p>\n

The video closes with Rootkid standing in a room flooded with warm yellow light, contemplating the device he\u2019s built. \u201cWe live surrounded,\u201d he muses, \u201cby ghosts of our own making.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cYou are standing in a storm,\u201d says YouTuber Rootkid. \u201cYou just can\u2019t see it. But what if you…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":537883,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[29596,237697,492,237698,159,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-537882","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-physics","8":"tag-diy","9":"tag-electromagnetic-waves","10":"tag-physics","11":"tag-rootkid","12":"tag-science","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115946465980065219","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=537882"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537882\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/537883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=537882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=537882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=537882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}