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RFID in bank notes

Posted: Fri Apr 24, 2009 1:23 pm
by phedny
Hi,

For my study I'm doing a small research assignment on RFID chips in bank notes. I've been able to find a lot of web pages that speculate or announce RFID, but I've been unable to find any evidence that this has been implemented for real.

As far as I can see, at this moment no euro notes exist with RFID embedded, but maybe someone can point me at an official document that tells otherwise.

What I'm looking for in my research is whether RFID is embedded in notes of any currency (I've read some speculations about US dollar notes and Japanese notes, but again nothing solid) and what kind of technologies are available. Any pointer or reference that gives me a start is welcome!

Thank you!

Gr,
Mark

Re: RFID in bank notes

Posted: Fri May 15, 2009 9:20 pm
by Dakkus
It has often been said, that the existence of an RFID chip could be proven by microwaving a banknote in a normal microwave oven. All notes of the same value get a hole burnt in the same place.
I've tried this and come to the conclusion that no evil spying actually takes place, or at least not in our banknotes. Firstly, the hole has appeared to a "wrong" place a couple of times, when the note has been in very bad condition. This, together with the fact that the hole appears along the metal security stripe, suggests that the hole appears in a certain place because the microwaves induce a current to the security stripe, which then heats the most in a certain place, determined by the microwave's wavelength and the length of the metal stripe - which is of course different if the note is in such bad condition that a part of the metal stripe has been cut.
These are my own observations and you can of course carry out similar tests, as well. What I haven't tried, BTW, is microwaving the same note twice. Would it get another hole elsewhere along the metal stripe?

Please be warned that especially older microwaves can catch fire, causing your house to burn down, while doing this kind of an experiment. Also newer microwave ovens might, if nothing else, go broken.

Re: RFID in bank notes

Posted: Tue May 19, 2009 1:02 am
by ART
It's one of many paranoic theories, agaist the euro or in order to "hit other targets" taking advantage the euro.

Re: RFID in bank notes

Posted: Sat May 30, 2009 4:37 pm
by androl
Dakkus wrote:Please be warned that especially older microwaves can catch fire, causing your house to burn down
and be aware that your money may burn away when the metal stripes catch fire, and that the bank could tell you that they don't replace money that you burned intentionally

Re: RFID in bank notes

Posted: Sun May 31, 2009 9:49 pm
by Poutsi
This topic has been discussed before, see this old thread for more info and some hilarious microwave experiments! 8)

Re: RFID in bank notes

Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2009 10:50 am
by phedny
Hi,

Thanks for the response! I couldn't make use of it though, but I have managed to finish a paper.

Gr,
Mark

Re: RFID in bank notes

Posted: Fri Aug 07, 2009 1:25 am
by maarsy
:roll: now there is a hole in mi mony :| was woundering

so just eum
what is it for

Re: RFID in bank notes

Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2009 8:45 pm
by Dakkus
The hole? It is there for seeing through.

Re: RFID in bank notes

Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2009 12:45 am
by maarsy
:P i ment the thing that burned up and made the hole

" at the bank

* did u know there was a chip in the mony
$ no i dident
* i dont know what its for but i know how to break it
$ oh so now ur comming to change burned mony with me

:mrgreen:

Re: RFID in bank notes

Posted: Thu Aug 13, 2009 12:24 pm
by Dakkus
But there most likely is no chip in the money. If you look at the hole, you notice it is on the metal stripe that goes through the note. The hole comes to a different place if the metal stripe has been damaged. I guess the location of the hole is defined by the microwave wavelength together with the length of the metal strip.

Of course theoretically the chip could be placed in a random part of the metal strip, but then it is a bit funny, that the strip always burns from the same place if the note is undamaged...

Re: RFID in bank notes

Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2009 8:57 pm
by androl
maarsy wrote:i ment the thing that burned up and made the hole

" at the bank

* did u know there was a chip in the mony
alright:

A: chips burn in a microwave oven (unproven, but assumed)
B: money burns in a microwave oven (proven)

from A and B follows C, by cum hoc ergo propter hoc

C: money contains chip
ImageImage
Dakkus wrote:I guess the location of the hole is defined by the microwave wavelength together with the length of the metal strip.
I don't think it has to do with the length of the metal strip. I think the location of the hole is defined by the microwave wavelength together with the size of the microwave oven and the position of the note in it.

I read a story that one can find out the speed of light with a chocolate bar. :lol: That is, if you put a chocolate bar into a microwave oven without a turning ground, then the microwaves will have points of maximum power, and the distance of these points, where the chocolate will melt first, is the half of the wavelength, so if you multiply this with twice the GHz frequency of the oven, you get the speed of light

Re: RFID in bank notes

Posted: Wed Aug 19, 2009 12:14 pm
by R/J
As far as I know, the frequency of all microwave ovens is 2.45 GHz, so there should be no change in the position of the hole between different mircowave ovens.

Re: RFID in bank notes

Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2009 12:37 am
by Dakkus
androl wrote: I don't think it has to do with the length of the metal strip. I think the location of the hole is defined by the microwave wavelength together with the size of the microwave oven and the position of the note in it.
I've microwaved about ten notes and only on one the hole appeared in a "non-standard" spot. The one that got the hole in a "wrong" place was even more worn than the others.

I find it unlikely that I would have managed to put them so precisely in the same place each time. Of course, though unlikely, it is not impossible.

Re: RFID in bank notes

Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2009 8:20 am
by Jes
In this thread, a user called Infrarouge, gave us a ([{MAYBE!!!}]) nice information about it: here's the given link (in Polish)
http://sport.hotnews.pl/arttechnika-358.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
8)

Re: RFID in bank notes

Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2009 11:45 am
by Dakkus
What's the thing about there being a hundred small fragments in the microscope image?