Re: How to explain that "no risk" can't be proven (EMF)

["Fritz A. Seiler" <faseiler@nmia.com>]

Dear Bjoern,
        Once you base your answer on the fact that the outcome is
given by a measurement, the proof is relatively simple. No stochastic
quantity can be used to 'prove' a value of zero. Statistics cannot be
used to prove anything!  All you can calculate is an upper confidence
limit for compatibility with zero. That means that your measurement
establishes an upper limit for the measurement, still possible with a
zero value; if it were larger than this limit, you would have seen it as a
nonzero value.  But if it were smaller than this limit, you could not have
seen it as nonzero.  And so you make a better measurement and go
on ad infinitum.....
        This question reminds me of the dipole moment of the neutron.
It should be zero, but when we started to consider the neutron as a
composite particle, the question was, is it really zero?  Some people
in Oak Ridge did some beautiful measurements on the neutron. But
every time they had a new result, some theoretician came up with a
model which yielded a dipole moment substantially smaller than their
upper limit.  This went on for a while...but not ad infinitum.       :-)
Best regards
Fritz

  Bjorn Cedervall wrote:

> /////: Now, my question to you fellow Radsafers: How do you explain to
> people that "undangerous" cannot be proven? Do you have any particularly
> useful examples that helps "common sense" (common?!).

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NOTE CHANGE OF ADDRESS

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Fritz A. Seiler, Ph.D.
Principal
Sigma Five Associates
P.O. Box 1709
Los Lunas, NM 87031
Tel.    505-866-5193
Fax.    505-866-5197
e-mail: faseiler@nmia.com

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