UNCONVENTIONAL APPROACH TO BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF EMF BO E. SERNELIUS * Dept. of Physics and Measurement Technology, Linköping University, SE-581 83 Linköping, Sweden. Abstract. The traditional way to describe the interactions in a system is to put the charged particles in the center of the formalism; the particles are excited and de-excited and in these processes radiation is absorbed and emitted, respectively. Here we put the electromagnetic fields in the center. The particles’ role is to contribute to the dielectric function and magnetic permeability of the system components. The interactions are described in terms of so-called electromagnetic-normal-modes of the system. The formalism complements the traditional one and leads to a broader understanding of, and feeling for, what goes on inside a biological system. Keywords: electromagnetic-normal-modes; dispersion forces; van-der-Waals forces; Casimir forces; surface tension; biocompatibility 1. Introduction Not counting gravitational effects, basically all interactions we experience are of electromagnetic origin. Traditionally the formalism is centered around the particles; electrons are excited and de-excited inside atoms; partly charged atoms are displaced from their equilibrium positions in polar semiconductors; ______ * To whom correspondence should be addressed; Bo Sernelius, Dept. of Physics and Measurement Technology, Linköping University, SE-581 83 Linköping, Sweden, e-mail: bos@ifm.liu.se © 2006 Springer. Printed in the Netherlands. S. N. Ayrapetyan and M. S. Markov (eds.), Bioelectromagnetics, – 155 155 167.