Scenario that's tough to prepare for - EMP

Cars? Definitely Not!
Large masses of metals tend to concentrate the various wavelengths.
If that were the case, then Tanks and APC's would NOT have to be "hardened" against EMP's.
There is a lot of valuable information, and there is even more disinformation, pure crap and hypothetical conclusions all over the internet...
The hard part is to separate the truth from the fiction. Like fly poop from pepper!
Read. Become informed. Make an informed decision as to reality of what EMP's are, and what they can do. Not simply and easily found, posted by someone, somewhere, that has never worked with nuclear devices, or even near a nuclear generating plant. Educate yourselves, before jumping to ANY conclusions....
Will your batteries explode? NO.
Will solar panels be affected?, Most won't, BUT, it all depends on their electrical components.
Will wind generators cease to function? Again it depends on the circuitry.
Invertors, most will be fried. Some won't.
Study, read, and get the facts, then make your own decision based on facts.

 

Thunder is ONLY sound, caused by friction.....clouds impacting, hot air, cold air, and a lot of dust involved.
Lightning does strike cars... ( and aircraft), I mean think about it, you are talking about hundreds of thousands ( if not MILLIONS)of volts, able to travel hundreds of miles in a mere second, ( actually some 186,000 miles per second) and many people really do believe that lightning cannot hurt them, if they are in a car!
Yeah, ok sure!
Those few inches of rubber, (tires), will NOT insulate the car from the ground and since lightning travels upwards, NOT downwards as many think, ( They ONLY see the light, not the actual charge!), what do you suppose those WET tires will insulate you from?
If you are NOT touching metal in the car, ONLY works, IF the car is hit by a live wire, NOT lightning. The high voltage can jump across the sky, melt all kinds of things and start fires, so why would a car insulate you from that, and you are a mere few inches away from any metal inside?
Lots of old wives tales, and urban legends, still out there today!

 

An EMP is an EMP. It does NOT depend on height to increase it's power, the height of detonation only applies to the size of the areas that will be affected.
Ground bursts produce a smaller EMP, as the main area affected is directly under the device and the immediate surrounding area. An aerial burst varying from 200 miles to 400 miles height, will increase the area affected in direct proportion.
Think of it as a smoke bomb, and the smoke effect from a small area (On the ground), as opposed to placing the same device up in a tree....a much larger area affected by the same device.....

 

Electromagnetic Pulse Protection - EMP - Futurescience.com
This link provided prior by SLugomist ( Thank you!) is an excellent article!
Halfway down the whole page you'll find all kinds of information on farady cages, and screening to use. It's exactly what I have done...except I also double my screens...extra insurance! Read and you will be INFORMED!

 

Apparently, no one knows for sure what exactly would happen if nuke is detonated in high atmosphere...If we are unlucky, maybe we'll find out some day....

 

A car is a farrady cage, for items inside it. However, it allows smaller wavelengths through. Smaller waves than Radio waves. It doesn't allow radio through, only through the antenna, which will also bring in nuclear emp waves. So your radio is probably more than likely fried.


A farrady cage is about being a shell, as shells shield from current, and even elecro-magnetically induced currents. that are tight enough to block the wave lengths of energy you want to block. For example, X-ray needs the density of lead atoms to block them. While a radio wave is larger and can't even get inside a car without an antenna. (take your portable radio into your car, if you close the doors, the radio will go to static.) The waves aren't getting in.

Problem is, Nuclear wavelength emp is small enough to get inside a car window.

So your micro processors in your car, computer or cell phone could get fried. Vehicle Engines typically have wires hefty enough to survive an emp.

The main issue with a HAEMP, would be the national/regional electric grid.
Industry would stop without electricity. Then the food runs out, then the riots start.

 

many of the newer cars should survive a EMP as the new ignition systems required a rework due to the higher energy used in them...

 

Depends on the EMP...nuke EMP maybe, but solar EMP would get over 5 million volts, so...toast!

 

So, if these almost impossible to survive threats are accurate, we need to do some brainstorming on how to overcome the situations don't we? Being part of a larger group or demographic would greatly ease matters, but being the individualistic people that we are, that is going to be difficult. It gets in the way of our current plans doesn't it?

From what I've read there, being part of a small town of under 2K to 5K might be workable, but cause a whole new line of problems. Is there another way to overcome the difficulties mentioned in this article? How about some ideas?

jim

 

I'm not an electrical engineer however EMP mainly effects transistors and chips... light bulbs, old style cars with out computers/electronic ignitions, lister generators, etc, will still work following an EMP burst...

Faraday cages should work to protect mostsmaller items (radios, computers, media, cameras etc)

In the event of major solar flares that the magnetosphere cant handle we will have other issues to worry about ...

just my 2 cents

 

I've given some of this some thought, and as usual, new problems have old solutions at times. As for ones home being riddled with gunfire. How about a low stone wall aroud the outside of the house that would stop small arms? Granted one would be in deep do-do if a .50 cal or larger were used against one's home, but small arms should not be much of a problem with proper protection. A low (3-4 ft.) stone or brick (filled concrete blocks?) would allow some cover from incoming.

Metal roofing and siding would hold down or the fire threat wouldn't it?

How about a perimeter fence to slow down and make difficult any assault. Wood walls like Ft. Apache has worked for thousands of years. A new version would be to concrete pipes into the ground at ground level. Then, when needed close fitting fence posts coud be dropped in, and the fence strung around them.

Depending on how many people you had, you could have a layered defense.

Of course, let's not forget the armored wheel barrows and de-barked Chiuauas.

 

Several years ago Boing demonstrated a drone delivering 7 EMPs in the Utah desert at several locations and then destroyed it's self.
The fact that the government has the capability to deliver EMPs on location, the threat does not necessarily have to come from a foreign power.
Secondly, consecutive EMPs can be deployed to wipe out electronics that had been put to use after an initial EMP blast .
Communications are a threat to a tyrannical government.

 

Yep, but if you can build your own you can mess with them too.

 

says who?

 

Boeing already made and proved a drone that delivered several localized EMP, in Utah several years ago .

 

As much steel as there is on a ship ,one of our military vessels was hit by Russia ,I think ,and rendered it out of commission so badly so that the men that had been on the ship refused to board it again .

 

It wasn't a mutiny .
After the ship was towed to home no one wanted to be deployed on it again.
I think during the same frame of time a cruse ship experienced a similar failure .

 

It was like 5 years ago .