What do K2 meters detect? (EMF meters and ghost hunting)
Last time, I wrote about the basics of EMFs: high versus low and medium-frequency EMFs, etc. Check that out if you haven't already, because I'll be building on that today.
While doing that research, I found myself wondering what frequencies popular EMF meters detect, since even visible light is an EMF. So let's take a look at K2 meters, one of the most popular EMF meters in the paranormal. (You know the type; the recognizable one with an arc of colorful LEDs.)
K2 (aka K-II) meters
GhostStop has a helpful explanation of the K2 meters that they sell, so they'll be my main source here.
They state that K2 meters detect two different radiofrequency ranges[^1]:
- the extremely low frequency (ELF) range of 50-1,000 Hertz (Hz)
- the very low frequency range (VLF) of 1,000 to 20,000 Hertz
For reference, here's the frequency of common low-to-mid-frequency EMFs:
- Power lines are around 50-60 Hz
- Computers are 60-100 Hz
- AM radio is 520-1610 kHz (520,000-1,610,000 Hz)
- FM radio is 87.5-108 MHz (87,500,000-108,000,000 Hz)
- Wi-fi is 2.4-2.5 GHz (2,400,000,000-2,500,000,000 Hz) or 5-5.8 GHz(5,000,000,000-5,800,000,000 Hz)
Outro
This all reminds me why I hated physics class so much. I deeply resent that in order to do these calculations, I had to switch from using my usual Sharp pocket calendar to a scientific calculator on my computer, and I even more deeply resent that I had to learn the difference between milihertz (mHz) and megahertz (MHz). (In case you're curious, 1 megahertz = 1,000,000,000 milihertz.) And I had to relearn what scientific notation was. The horror.
Oh well, I guess I have no one to blame but myself. No one asked me to try to better understand EMFs and EMF meters are. But here we are.
General disclaimer: I'm a paranormal researcher trying to learn more about EMFs, not an expert. I'm learning in public, not being an authoritative voice.
[^1] Note: I've seen some variation in definitions of extremely low-frequency EMFs online. But it's safe to say that the K2 picks up EMFs on the lower side of the frequency, either way.