UCSB Science Line
Sponge Spicules Nerve Cells Galaxy Abalone Shell Nickel Succinate X-ray Lens Lupine
UCSB Science Line
Home
How it Works
Ask a Question
Search Topics
Webcasts
Our Scientists
Science Links
Contact Information
Will a faraday cage make you invisible to radar? if not, what will?
Question Date: 2007-08-03
Answer 1:

A Faraday Cage will still reflect radar, but won't emit as much if it's grounded. So while YOU would be invisible, the cage itself would not be. Of course, because the cage is grounded, it would not be as visible as it would be if it were not grounded, but...

The only way to be truly invisible to radar is to be made out of something that doesn't conduct electricity. Even if most of you are made out of some such, if there is a part of you that conducts, it will still be visible.

Some radar-stealthy objects, like stealth aircraft, have their materials set at angles that reflect radar away from the typical transmitter, so the receiver must be in a specific place in order to see them. As a result, a radar would have to be specifically designed to look downward from above or at some other unexpected angle could still see such craft.

The other way to avoid being seen by radar is to be underground (or underwater). Both conduct electricity and absorb radar waves well enough that they will block out any signal from reaching you. This is the same principle as the aforementioned Faraday Cage - except that the Earth is your cage, and it doesn't really help somebody you are hiding from to know that you are somewhere on (or under) the Earth.


Answer 2:

Although a faraday cage might make you invisible to radar, unfortunately the faraday cage itself will show up on radar.So unless your faraday cage is huuuuuuge it doesn't make much of a difference.


Answer 3:

Um... it will prevent the radar from seeing *you*, but the Faraday cage itself will be very obvious. What you need is to prevent the radar from being reflected back to its source. The two ways of doing this are to absorb it or to reflect it in a different direction with flat surfaces pointed in funny directions, with no 90-degree angles. Stealth aircraft use both techniques.


Click Here to return to the search form.

University of California, Santa Barbara Materials Research Laboratory National Science Foundation
This program is co-sponsored by the National Science Foundation and UCSB School-University Partnerships
Copyright © 2020 The Regents of the University of California,
All Rights Reserved.
UCSB Terms of Use