Inductively Coupled Electrical Stimulation - Part 5: How many types of PEMF are there? A model and Excel Calculator

To intelligently study anything, the first step is to intelligently define exactly what it is that you are studying. This has been a perennial challenge for the field of PEMF research. The most basic question in the field of PEMF research is: exactly what is PEMF, and if it is more than one thing, how many different things is it? At the simplest level, PEMF is exactly what it stands for: Pulsed Electro-Magnetic Fields. But in common usage, it is more nuanced than that. This is a term not used by physicists, for example, to describe the pulses that are observed emanating from outer space. These are described by detailed spectral analysis of the electromagnetic emission being studied, but physicists do not generally use the generic term “PEMF”. It is also not a term used by electrical engineers to describe the electromagnetic fields emanating as a byproduct of the clocking of digital electronics or control of motors, even though, technically, these could be called pulsed electro-magnetic fields. The term and abbreviation “PEMF” is used almost exclusively to describe a specific type of electro-magnetism that is known or believed to have beneficial or therapeutic effects when applied to living systems. In this study, we first address the fundamental weakness of the ubiquitous question “Does PEMF work?” We then begin by re-framing the question with clearly defined terminology. Then we finish by presenting a model for dividing PEMF into tractable subsets based on quantifiable PEMF parameters. A spreadsheet is developed to model and calculate the total number of all possible forms of well-defined PEMF that could be tested for biological effects. The spreadsheet is available for use to aid research in this area. Using default parameters selected by the author, it is concluded that there are about 1 quadrillion different variations of PEMF, which far exceeds the number of identified and theorized chemical species in the known universe. While this number by itself is intractable, when modeled in detail it does allow the variations of PEMF to be estimated and organized in a way that it becomes possible to approach the problem of the scope of PEMF within a tractable experimental or regulatory framework.