EMP

[Structo]

Electro Magnetic Pulse, that is.

I have often wondered how we would deal with a large EMP locally, then nationally.

Most preventative measures involve this.

[img:300:270]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/e ... umfoil.jpg[/img]

Not sure how that protects anything from gamma rays and other radiation that can be part of an EMP.
The EMP is particularly devastating because it happens in an instant, involving all parts of a circuit at once.

[img:554:347]http://www.ec21.com/co/n/nuriplan/upimg/04_02.jpg[/img]

Although some swear by this remedy.

[img:200:311]https://pmpaspeakingofprecision.files.w ... il-hat.jpg[/img]

Protecting large areas are a challenge

[img:554:347]http://www.ec21.com/co/n/nuriplan/upimg/04_02.jpg[/img]

[img:483:367]http://everydayreadiness.com/wp-content ... Radius.jpg[/img]

I remember when I was a kid, they said one day they would cover an entire city with a transparent dome.
Add shielding to the dome, easy peazy.

We have come to depend on electronics and technology so much these days, it would be a rude awakening if we are ever targeted with an EMP bomb or other electronic weapons.

[NickC]

Iran has been testing a delivery system for an EMP weapon.

Deployment of such weapons near the USA would plunge us back into the stone age. The electric grid fails, and transformers are permanently disabled. There are no warehoused transformers to replace those damaged by an EMP strike. There would be no way to manufacture them domestically, as we don't have the tooling anymore and would not have power to manufacture them. Lead time for foreign sourced replacements would be several years.

In the first year, defense analysts predict 90% of US population dies in the wake of failure of food production and distribution, failure of maintenance drug production and distribution, and general chaos.

Iran (and others) would love to see that outcome.

The good news is that the political class will be able to go underground and likely survive the ordeal, and thus carry the ideals of America forward .................... right?

[John_P_WI]

Nick,

Or at the least their ideals....

[Leo_Gnardo]

You'll be happy to know - vacuum tube equipment is largely immune to EMP. So you'll be able to rock on, assuming you have a power source.

Remember when a Russian pilot defected & drove his MIG25 "Foxbat" to Japan? (Google MIG25 defection and Viktor Belenko, read all about it. Sept 6, 1976, seems like yesterday.) Of course our CIA techs were all over it in an instant. Then the (public) report came out, MIG25 was hopelessly backwards, equipped all tube gear. Yes, hopelessly backwards, with tube gear that would survive EMP. After an atomic blast, while our computerized planes fall out of the sky like so many stones, USSR would own the airspace with their "antiquated" aircraft.

There are EMP applications that don't involve atomic weapons, much smaller rigs that can accomplish local damage. There's been a rumor of police equipment that can stop a car engine by remote control via EMP but I've yet to hear of any such thing in service. Maybe because it would stop the engine in the police car too? DOH! An item that has been tested, "millimeter wave" weapons that make people feel like their skin's on fire. Doesn't kill, just disables temporarily, maybe good for riot control. Plus larger gear that could wreck electric-grid control equipment, that's more along the line of what you have to worry about. If you really want to worry, worry about PGE's gas pipelines built out of scrap tubing, maybe one's in your neighborhood. Tin foil hat won't help you survive but may help your head bake evenly. We have plenty of home made problems without Iran or anyone else bringing them on.

[Structo]

I too have read doomsday accounts that talk about the power grid going down (from various attacks) and the issues of repairing it.

It would be disastrous!

Many of the huge transformers and other hardware are not available for replacements because they are so expensive to manufacture, that they don't have a stock pile of parts.

The EMP would overload the entire system at once, so a lot of smoke and fire.
Transmission lines would fail, substations would fail, local transformers would fail.

How about satellites?
They can hit those too.

We have had our power off here for four whole days and we were not really prepared.
No heat, no lights, not a lot of food in the house.

I know other areas have been without power for much longer periods than we ever do, but we take electricity so much for granted we don't realize it until it is gone.
Walking into a room, flipping the light switch as you go in and nothing happens!
We get muscle memory for things we don't even think about until it is gone or there is a problem.

[M Fowler]

http://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/Larg ... 2012_0.pdf

People like my wife are very well aware of where the metal resources are in the world and daily prices. They don't just sit around and wonder. They are involved with strategic planning and prepare for disasters.

What is confusing to my wife and I is that the U.S. Government is well aware of material resource yet continue to let foreign countries buy up rare metals vital to the U.S.

[Structo]

That's some good info the bad guys can use.

The problem with living in a free country, our guys like to show fancy videos and details of tech we use.
Bragging rights.

Hey look here at our new drone that can launch and land on an aircraft carrier.

I know we don't show all but maybe we should play with our cards closer to the vest.

Even a few strategically planted sleeper cells could wreak havoc on the power grid if they synchronized attacks across the nation.

And now that a lot of the grid is online it's even easier to hack.

My new power meter is linked to the power company to show usage and imagine what else.
Hey, how about knocking the voltage down in the area here and move some over there.

They have complete control over your usage now.

Maybe the side that has the most robots will win..........

[RWood]

In the long run, EMP will not affect my generator or my tubes so...
Imagine a world where the only electronic devices that still worked were vacuum tubes. I think they call that Nirvana.

[TUBEDUDE]

I'll bet that generator has silicon in it's control circuitry. If not, and EMP knocks out gas station fuel access and grocery truck resupply, you can rock on for as long as the fuel lasts, or till you starve. It might be better to keep a quiet, low profile though to avoid being an early target of the armed roving gangs.

[Structo]

The way I understand it, the pulse is traveling near the speed of light, it energizes all circuitry at once, overloads it and burns it up if it is hit bad enough.

Or is only solid state stuff affected?

[TUBEDUDE]

Only semiconductors are destroyed. With secondary effects, fuses will blow, circuit breaker will pop etc. and other things could be damaged also, but not from the pulse .

[jam-mill]

Crap - that means all my dirt pedals and digital effects devices will no longer work

[cbass]

That's why I painted my house with lead paint. That's the real reason govt outlawed it. It blocks mind control rays

[RWood]

I'll bet that generator has silicon in it's control circuitry. If not, and EMP knocks out gas station fuel access and grocery truck resupply, you can rock on for as long as the fuel lasts, or till you starve. It might be better to keep a quiet, low profile though to avoid being an early target of the armed roving gangs.

My diesel generator is housed in a Faraday cage and as so will not be affected, but fuel might be tough if my Biodiesel co-op goes down. Armed roving gangs will not likely be as armed as most of my rural neighbors.

Wait...If my wife don't have HGTV and Cooking network she'll force me to talk to her instead of rockin out!!! Life won't be worth living!

[schaublin65]

Hi,

I would imagine that the response from the US navy missile submarines is likely to deter anyone from trying this in practice.

take care..

John