Posted on 09/25/2011 1:30:34 PM PDT by IbJensen
Not even a microprocessor will be affected. There simply isn’t enough EMF generated by EMP to create enough energy to harm anything that small. Inductance is the name of the game here and EMP just doesn’t provide enough energy to induce high enough currents in such short wires to do damage. Nearby Lightening bolts generate more force and we don’t all freak out about those and we recover just fine from those bolts that do strike things like power lines.
Another good technical question. Electricity is generated when a conductor moves past a magnet (or vice-versa). The more magnet, conductor, or speed, the more elektrikity. Nukes to a lot of all of that.
An EMP generates a induced current in stuff that isn't actually attached. Think radio antennas inducing a current in remote radio antennas.
So, your genset gets exposed to an EMP and that wire that runs from the kill switch to the condenser(capacitor) arcs the capacitor out.
Need a new one to get the genset to start.
You can make your own, if you know how.
/johnny
Starfish Prime was 1.4 MT. Your scenario has a warhead of significantly less yield. Don’t think the results would equal your claim.
“a single EMP attack COULD potentially wipe out most of the electronics in the United States and instantly send this nation back to the 1800s......
If a nuclear bomb was exploded high enough in the atmosphere over the middle part of the country, the electromagnetic pulse WOULD fry electronic devices from coast to coast.”
Which is it - COULD or WOULD? Nobody really knows. This is BS.
AMEN BROTHER! My concern, I don't worry either, with me being single and the kids gone... is tornadic weather. It's the local big killer. But I find that preparing for the tornados and bad weather also leaves me prepared for house-fires, mutant zombie bikers, and democratic administrations.
/johnny
“We all saw what happened after Hurricane Katrina. The government response was a nightmare”
When are they gonna stop with this.
Once Bush took over Katrina response from the incompetent mayor and governor, the respone was magnificent
It was govt action BEFORE Katrina that was a disaster
When are they gonna stop with this.
Once Bush took over Katrina response from the incompetent mayor and governor, the response was magnificent
It was govt action BEFORE Katrina that was a disaster
Maybe I'm wrong, but I am told by those who would know, that EMP has way less affect on electronic devices that are not powered up. An idle generator, for example.
A big part of your car's computer is on pretty much all the time, however they are also pretty well shielded. (See above discussions on Faraday cage.) Steel body is good Faraday cage. That's why your mom told you that you were safer in the car than out of it during a lightning storm.
It's also why you have a surge protector on your sensitive electronics at home. You do have that don't you? Lightning hits power lines all the time without destroying civilization.
It will be 1873, without all the implements and knowledge that made 1873 possible.
There will be communities that will pull through just fine. Until the marauding gangs get there.
We are only one week from anarchy in any decent sized city.
BHO won't respond.
All transportation stops.
All cooling, and most heating stops.
All food harvesting and delivery stops.
All communication stops.
All law enforcement stops.
When it happens, it may last months, or a year, or years.
Because Gaffney and crew want some govenment contracts. They can’t be proven right or wrong. Given the current bunch of incompetents in office they might give them $500 million or so.
This EMP scare started 30 years ago and went away. It’s starting again, but not all of us have forgotten the first iteration.
My old Briggs & Stratton has points. Now the question is will the voltage regulator be protected and the magneto lose residual magnetism. I think if they have a magneto ignition, they may still work. If all else fails hot wire it. If that fails I’ll be at the cabin watching TV by candle light!
Back in the '60s, the 19 inch wire in GE televisions leading to the volume pot did a great job of picking up 2 meter AM.
Lots of complaints about that.
You must be new to electricity. After the tubes and 25 lb transformers and stuff.
/johnny
I could do the same. However, I’d need some 1930’s light bulbs with 10 gauge tungsten filaments before I’d promise the lights would stay on for any length of time.
I think the most likely scenario is going to be voltage induced through the windings in the power supply transformers and possed on to the circuit boards from there.
“But I find that preparing for the tornados and bad weather also leaves me prepared for house-fires, mutant zombie bikers, and democratic administrations.”
Bingo. Preparation is a state of mind, and an outlook on life, not a checklist of things to buy (though, those things help). Self reliance is a good thing, and something we, as a society have lost. It’s vital for people to pull together, roll up their sleeves and help out one another, and if that happens, we can get through everything.
That having been said, let me tell you, I do not come from tornado country, but that my mother does, and they scare her, and are something I hope to never, ever, have to deal with! As a school kid I saw a dust devil (tiny, tiny tornado of dust and sand) throw a teacher against a chainlink fence, and I’ll never forget the look of terror, desperation and helplessness that she had on her face! No thanks!
I was planning on using liberals for lighting and heat.
/johnny
Starfish Prime was 1.4 MT. Your scenario has a warhead of significantly less yield. Don’t think the results would equal your claim.Perhaps. It does depend upon several factors, including the size of the bomb, the altitude and the Earth's magnetic field in the affected area.
Here's part of what Wikipedia has to say:
The EMP damage of the Starfish Prime test was quickly repaired because of the ruggedness (compared to today)[9] of the electrical and electronic infrastructure of Hawaii in 1962. Realization of the potential impacts of EMP became more apparent to some scientists and engineers during the 1970s as more sensitive solid-state electronics began to come into widespread use.The relatively small magnitude of the Starfish Prime EMP in Hawaii (about 5600 volts/metre) and the relatively small amount of damage done (for example, only 1 to 3 percent of streetlights extinguished)[10] led some scientists to believe, in the early days of EMP research, that the problem might not be as significant as was later realized. Newer calculations[9] showed that if the Starfish Prime warhead had been detonated over the northern continental United States, the magnitude of the EMP would have been much larger (22 to 30 kilovolts/metre) because of the greater strength of the Earth's magnetic field over the United States, as well as the different orientation of the Earth's magnetic field at high latitudes. These new calculations, combined with the accelerating reliance on EMP-sensitive microelectronics, heightened awareness that the EMP threat could be a very significant problem.
“but how does it prevent me from firing up my generator after the attack?”
It won’t, if the genset is not connected. EMP threat is not about components, but rather interfaces and the connections between things like wires, ports, antennas.
If you had a “microcircuit” sitting around nothing would happen to it. Connect a long wire to it and ground some other pin and you could get enough energy to fry it.
Something heavy like an electric motor would not be affected.
Also from the article:
The geomagnetic storm-like E3 pulse (from the test designated as “Test 184”) even induced an electric current surge in a long underground power line that caused a fire in the power plant in the city of Karaganda.
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