Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Why is it that every time I go through the airport metal detector, the buzzer goes off and I am taken aside and checked by a hand detector?

Dear Matthew Alice:

Every time I go through the airport metal detector, the buzzer goes off and I am taken aside and checked by a hand detector. I am ordered to empty my pockets, which never contain anything more than a tissue or two. The last time I was there, I was wearing a sweat suit, sneakers, and no jewelry of any kind. That blankety-blank thing still buzzed. I see scads of people wearing jewelry and the thing doesn't buzz for them. What gives? Am I emitting some kind of signal? Am I made of something other than flesh and blood?

-- Alice Healing, San Diego

Sponsored
Sponsored

The elves have gone to get your medical chart to check that last point. In the meantime, here's what we have, after grilling three manufacturers of the walk-through-style metal detectors and making them empty their pockets into a little tray. The idiot's guide to detectors says they work by sending out radio signals that surround you with an electromagnetic field. When the field strikes that .38 special in your pocket, there is generated a tiny electrical current, which produces a radio signal, which is picked up by the detector's antenna. The signal is amplified and analyzed, then, maybe, the alarm goes off.

Detectors can be adjusted to many levels of sensitivity, depending on whether you're looking for something like a needle (very high sensitivity, generally used in prisons) or perhaps, at a department store, a small home appliance hidden in someone's hat. Detectors can also be set to zero in on certain metals and be less reactive to others. Steel, stainless steel, and aluminum are very popular suspicious metals at airports. Gold and silver will get you a free pass and maybe an extra martini on the flight. The machines can also be adjusted to find something the size of a gun but ignore small things like a car key or quarters.

The FAA sets standards for airport detectors, and they're supposed to be tested daily. The settings are low enough to keep watches and pens from setting off the machines but high enough to spot a handgun. And every detector-person we talked to said it is only metal that triggers the alarm. Do you wear shoes with a metal plate in the instep? Many boots, men's shoes, and most women's high heels have metal in them. Bobby pins? Rivets in your jeans? Many pierced-and-studded body parts? If the machine is more sensitive than necessary, even a bra with a metal underwire will do the trick. Do you somehow bump the machine as you pass through? This will occasionally set off some detectors.

But here's the harebrained theory we've all been waiting for: the "body capacitance" speculation, our ability to retain a tiny electric charge because of our faintly saline body fluids. Oddly enough, salt water looks like stainless steel to a metal detector, says one engineer. But he also says that the quality of pass-through detectors varies a lot, and he claims there is plenty of badly designed equipment in the field, prone to false alarms for a variety of reasons. He guesses you really do have some small bit of detectable metal on your person, and the machine is malfunctioning just enough to pick it up when it should ignore it.

But if you think you have troubles now, just wait until the engineers put the finishing touches on the vapor detectors that sniff air samples as we pass through. Coming soon to an airport near us?

And You Spend All Day Dodging Magnets

Got a quick reply to our wrestling match with Alice Healing's question about constantly setting off the airport's metal detector. Heather Campbell e's us, to wit: "I've heard of a man who suffered from a condition in which his body stored excessive amounts of iron; he regularly set off metal detectors. [It is] hemochromatosis, a rare and dangerous disorder."

According to my medical sources and two people who actually have hemochromatosis, you're a little off the beam. You're right, it's (usually) a genetic condition in which the body stores large amounts of iron in the liver and elsewhere. But people with the condition don't have little rusty chunks of metal stowed around their bodies. They don't clank when they walk. I'm told by two people who have hemochromatosis that this story wanders by from time to time, and to their knowledge it's completely untrue. Their doctors concur. They flew all the time before they were diagnosed and treated, and they never set off any metal detectors. So the story is just a very arcane urban myth.

Victoria's Secret

Hey, Mahatma: The woman going through the metal detector with the false alarms [5/11] is wearing an underwire bra. I've set them off in a computer chip factory.... I did have to "prove" to a female security officer that I really was wearing the alleged bra.

-- Yet another female engineer, San Diego

In the original answer we mentioned unmentionables as a possible, if unlikely, explanation. We were met with some skepticism. So imagine how happy we were to receive this real-life tale of extreme personal and professional humiliation, proof that your underwear can set off a hypersensitive metal detector.

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Morricone Youth, Berkley Hart, Dark Entities, Black Heart Procession, Monsters Of Hip-Hop

Live movie soundtracks, birthdays and more in Balboa Park, Grantville, Oceanside, Little Italy

Dear Matthew Alice:

Every time I go through the airport metal detector, the buzzer goes off and I am taken aside and checked by a hand detector. I am ordered to empty my pockets, which never contain anything more than a tissue or two. The last time I was there, I was wearing a sweat suit, sneakers, and no jewelry of any kind. That blankety-blank thing still buzzed. I see scads of people wearing jewelry and the thing doesn't buzz for them. What gives? Am I emitting some kind of signal? Am I made of something other than flesh and blood?

-- Alice Healing, San Diego

Sponsored
Sponsored

The elves have gone to get your medical chart to check that last point. In the meantime, here's what we have, after grilling three manufacturers of the walk-through-style metal detectors and making them empty their pockets into a little tray. The idiot's guide to detectors says they work by sending out radio signals that surround you with an electromagnetic field. When the field strikes that .38 special in your pocket, there is generated a tiny electrical current, which produces a radio signal, which is picked up by the detector's antenna. The signal is amplified and analyzed, then, maybe, the alarm goes off.

Detectors can be adjusted to many levels of sensitivity, depending on whether you're looking for something like a needle (very high sensitivity, generally used in prisons) or perhaps, at a department store, a small home appliance hidden in someone's hat. Detectors can also be set to zero in on certain metals and be less reactive to others. Steel, stainless steel, and aluminum are very popular suspicious metals at airports. Gold and silver will get you a free pass and maybe an extra martini on the flight. The machines can also be adjusted to find something the size of a gun but ignore small things like a car key or quarters.

The FAA sets standards for airport detectors, and they're supposed to be tested daily. The settings are low enough to keep watches and pens from setting off the machines but high enough to spot a handgun. And every detector-person we talked to said it is only metal that triggers the alarm. Do you wear shoes with a metal plate in the instep? Many boots, men's shoes, and most women's high heels have metal in them. Bobby pins? Rivets in your jeans? Many pierced-and-studded body parts? If the machine is more sensitive than necessary, even a bra with a metal underwire will do the trick. Do you somehow bump the machine as you pass through? This will occasionally set off some detectors.

But here's the harebrained theory we've all been waiting for: the "body capacitance" speculation, our ability to retain a tiny electric charge because of our faintly saline body fluids. Oddly enough, salt water looks like stainless steel to a metal detector, says one engineer. But he also says that the quality of pass-through detectors varies a lot, and he claims there is plenty of badly designed equipment in the field, prone to false alarms for a variety of reasons. He guesses you really do have some small bit of detectable metal on your person, and the machine is malfunctioning just enough to pick it up when it should ignore it.

But if you think you have troubles now, just wait until the engineers put the finishing touches on the vapor detectors that sniff air samples as we pass through. Coming soon to an airport near us?

And You Spend All Day Dodging Magnets

Got a quick reply to our wrestling match with Alice Healing's question about constantly setting off the airport's metal detector. Heather Campbell e's us, to wit: "I've heard of a man who suffered from a condition in which his body stored excessive amounts of iron; he regularly set off metal detectors. [It is] hemochromatosis, a rare and dangerous disorder."

According to my medical sources and two people who actually have hemochromatosis, you're a little off the beam. You're right, it's (usually) a genetic condition in which the body stores large amounts of iron in the liver and elsewhere. But people with the condition don't have little rusty chunks of metal stowed around their bodies. They don't clank when they walk. I'm told by two people who have hemochromatosis that this story wanders by from time to time, and to their knowledge it's completely untrue. Their doctors concur. They flew all the time before they were diagnosed and treated, and they never set off any metal detectors. So the story is just a very arcane urban myth.

Victoria's Secret

Hey, Mahatma: The woman going through the metal detector with the false alarms [5/11] is wearing an underwire bra. I've set them off in a computer chip factory.... I did have to "prove" to a female security officer that I really was wearing the alleged bra.

-- Yet another female engineer, San Diego

In the original answer we mentioned unmentionables as a possible, if unlikely, explanation. We were met with some skepticism. So imagine how happy we were to receive this real-life tale of extreme personal and professional humiliation, proof that your underwear can set off a hypersensitive metal detector.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

At 4pm, this Farmer's Table restaurant in Chula Vista becomes Acqua e Farina

Brunch restaurant by day, Roman style trattoria by night
Next Article

Big swordfish, big marlin, and big money

Trout opener at Santee Lakes
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader