Fillings

[sfpcc]

I'm probably risking a lot of flak for posting this but what the heck. There was an episode of Gilligan's Island where Gilligan received radio signals. through the filling of his teeth. Has anyone out there heard about this actually happening or is just bunk and balderdash? (I think this also happened on The Partridge Family with Laurie.)

[Deleted User 3751]

I haven't heard that one but, I knew someone who could hear a station in their toaster. They lived a quarter mile from the transmitter.

[Turkeytop]

I've never experienced it myself but I believe radio reception on teeth fillings is something real. There were reports of it long before before that TV show.

[SolarMax]

The metallic amalgam in old style fillings could act as a rectifier diode (like that in an old crystal set, detecting amplitude modulated (AM) signals. You would have to be nearby a strong RF field for that to happen. Same for any metal-to-metal junction. Besides kitchen appliances, there used to be reports of signals heard on metal rain gutters and plumbing.

[audiophile]

I heard that WJBK-AM literally had crapper reception.

Yes, on the commode.

[CK-722]

You can make an AM radio detector with two aluminum pie tins separated by wax paper. It's essentially a capacitor. There is a mechanical force on the plates proportional to the electric field. As an AM signal changes in amplitude, it vibrates the pie tins at the audio frequency.

[CK-722]

You can make an AM radio detector with two aluminum pie plates separated by wax paper. It's essentially a capacitor. There is a mechanical force on the plates proportional to the electric field. As an AM signal changes in amplitude, it vibrates the pie tins at the audio frequency. Again you have to be very nearby the transmitter. You can extend the range with antenna wires attached to the pie plates. You might be able to sort out a couple of diplexed signals with some LC filters on the antenna wires.