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| EMP (Electromagnetic Pulse); Very scary stuff | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jul 6 2011, 09:22 PM (607 Views) | |
| Nekobe | Jul 6 2011, 09:22 PM Post #1 |
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Planning World Domination
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I just finished reading One Second Later, a book about the threat of electromagnetic pulse (EMP). I had heard about EMPs now and then but didn't know a lot about them. For the most part I was under the impression they could only be caused by violent solar storms interacting with the atmosphere and overloading electrical systems all the way to ground level. The power would go out, phone lines as well. Hand held devices such as cell phones would be fried. Cars would no longer start as their on board computers would be damaged. What follows would be a descent into madness as society fell apart and civilization collapsed. No more shipments to grocery stores. No more medicines delivered to pharmacies. In a matter of weeks nuclear power plants would melt down as their generators ran out of fuel and battery pack up was depleted. At the same time people would be fighting over food that was quickly becoming scarce. While in places like the Great Plains and California, crops would rot in the fields and in trucks; no way of delivering them elsewhere. In a couple months those dependent on certain medications (diabetics, heart patients) would begin dying. In three months people would be killing each other over a couple cans of food. If this happened all over the world it could eventually lead to the extinction of the human race. Old enemies like chicken pox, malaria, typhoid would run rampant. Pregnancy would be more risky than ever with the chances of mother, child or both not making it. Its easy to relax and not worry much about any of this happening if it could only be brought on by the kind of solar storm that we only see once every few hundred years or more. But the very same thing could be used on a smaller scale by exploding a nuclear missile high enough above a country. A nuclear detonation above the atmosphere over Nebraska could wipe out every electronic gadget from coast to coast in the United States. Similar explosions could wreak havoc over Japan, Great Britain; anywhere in the world if someone knew just where to send the missile and how high to have it go before detonation. Its very scary to think how just a few terrorists could launch a "primitive" scud missile from the Gulf of Mexico, wipe out all electricity in the United States, and ultimately kill hundreds of millions people over the course of the following decades it would take to rebuild the technological infrastructure. The threat is very real. And if the USA falls the rest of the world would surely suffer. All the grain rotting in the plains that would have become bread to feed the hungry in other nations. All the other crops and goods that would no longer be exported to countries that all but rely on them. The United States congress has debated about EMPs but I have heard of very little actually being done to protect power lines, key facilities and installations from the effect of the electromagnetic pulse. One can only hope that this threat will never come to pass, much like the threat of nuclear war in the 1980s. But where it would have taken two opposing nations to decide to go to war, it only takes a few insane zealots with the know-how to launch a missile to bring the horrors of EMP to a nation. |
| Do not toy with the future, for it is a devious thing... | |
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| Kalkin | Jul 23 2011, 02:28 AM Post #2 |
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Disgraced Dictator
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The threat of EMP is overblown. No threat is ever as critical as the worst case scenario. Here's one piece of information One second after didn't mention: EMP is basically radiowaves and there are lots of those moving around everywhere. While more sophisticated electronics are more vulnerable to EMP damage, they also are already shielded against radiowaves in order to make them work in the first place. Look at your computer. It's encased in metal. It's purpose is to block radio signals that disrupt electronics. While a true EMP attack may overwhelm those protections, an EMP attack is not going to be a 100% shutdown of all technology. And if you really are that worried about EMP, you could always just build a Faraday's cage and put your computer inside. Here's what you do: 1. Get a box. 2. Line it with (ferrous) metal folio from all sides. 3. Line it with plastic to isolate folio from contents. 4. Add a grounding wire from folio to ground. (4a.) Test the box by placing a cellphone inside and making a call to it. If there's no signal, box works 5. Place electronics inside the box and close it. Don't leave any gaps in the folio. There, you're protected. Update: There are couple of more things to know about EMP that I forgot to address. First: The EMP can travel along wiring, so EMP protection requires machines to be off grid during attack. Second: Regular surge protectors aren't enough against EMP. Pulse moves too quickly. Third: A single scud is not enough to shut down a large area like USA or Europe. I read a strategic analysis about EMP, according to which that would require a nuke detonating at the height of 1000 miles in the center of USA and a scud fired from sea cannot go that far. A more realistic scenario was four nukes detonated at 400 mile height. That's feasible with scuds, but they'd propably have to be launched inland, not sea. Fifth: Generators and many appliences don't need complex circuitry to function. Any house with wiring made in 1980s and 1990s is propably going to work fine. Maybe replacing fuses, lightbulbs and bypassing some newer control circuits might be in order, but that's it. Power companies might be trickier, but most electronics there are about managing power flow, not about making it happen. The generator now is pretty much the same it was 100 years ago, the computer managing it is just extra that can be yanked out. Automation of power flow is only a decade old phenomena. There are still many people around, who know how to downgrade - and people in power companies are precisely the ones best equipped to handle bypassing circuits, so power grid might be back soon. Also most power plants just work by burning stuff or letting water through a hole. Again century old technology with computer coating. Most worrisome part in this is nuclear power plants, but diesel operated water pumps could still work. Finally EMP only affects areas in line of sight so areas behind Rocky mountains, Appalakians and just about any steep hill wouldn't be affected. This effect is even more pronounced if just one nuke was used since it would be low in the sky at long distances. Area close to ground zero would be screwed, but who cares about Midwest anyway. While the effect could travel by electric lines, it would have no effect on machines not currently connected to the power grid - whether shielded or otherwise. Conclusion: While there would be panic, humanitarian crisis and disruption of social order, an EMP would not be an instant return to stone age - or even 1800s. The breakdown of long supply lines of industries is the biggest problem, but there would still be technology left to do something about it. Let's finish this with an ironic twist. I watched a documentary on new weaponry and it had a piece on an EMP weapon. It was basically a portable EMP weapon to be used on cars and such. Apparently the idea was to use it in Iraq against car bombers ramming check points. They even tested it on an SUV and it worked. It occurred to me that troops in Iraq are in for a nasty surprise. The cars in Iraq are not very new. Thanks to 2 Gulf wars and blockade in between, there might not be that many cars made after 1980s in there and cars made prior to that aren't vulnerable to EMP. I don't know about bombs, but I don't think they need electronics to function either - atleast not while ramming. It seems the weapon designer hadn't thought this through. Edited by Kalkin, Jul 27 2011, 08:25 AM.
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| Fusion63 | Dec 16 2011, 01:59 AM Post #3 |
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Struggling Scientist
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emp bombs are better than atomic bombs in my opinion, in 20 years we would have them as a major threat |
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12:14 AM Jul 11