all your batboy are belong to us
Posted on 01/24/2006 4:52:36 PM PST by ChristianDefender
Now, I'm afraid I must move on to a very downbeat topic: EMP. You may not know what those letters mean, but you will eventually be bombarded with more doom and gloom articles about them than you want. If you were looking for an uplifting column this week, I recommend you stop right here and click into some nicer columns by my esteemed WND colleagues.
EMP refers to Electro-Magnetic Pulse weaponry, high-yielding atomic bombs that are enhanced to exaggerate their circuitry-destroying effect and minimize their human-destroying effect (quite possibly to the point of zero casualties even with an urban target).
To get right to the point: Iran could soon develop and deliver one of these things and detonate it over the United States. With some deniability.
One is all it would take. According to a third party, India's Institute of Defense Studies, "A study conducted in the U.S. during the late 1980s reported that a high-yield device exploded about 500 kilometers above the ground can generate an electromagnetic pulse on the order of 50,000 volts over a radius of 2,500 kilometers around the point of burst ..."
While the immediate casualties might be very minimal, the loss of all electrical devices could produce tens of millions of deaths within months, especially in winter. According to my understanding, the "electronic fatalities" would include all cars and trucks, telephones, computers, gas pumps, refrigerators, radio-TV broadcasts, printing presses, commercial and military aircraft, and power-generating plants. Think: No electrical anything.
As fire-fighting equipment would not function without water pressure or fire engines, some entire cities could go up in smoke. After canned goods were gone, we would all be out hunting and gathering, harvesting dandelions from our yards and so forth. You get the picture. Pure doomsday stuff.
In case you're clinging to some vague hope that this is rumor or conjecture, you may make a quick check on any search engine. You will discover that every major government in the world is aware and concerned. Worse, Iran has been using its intermediate-range Shahab-3 missiles to test their delivery capability. They've shot non-nuclear, self-destroying test warheads into an arc high over the Caspian Sea.
Because the missiles never reached full height, some U.S. defense people have called them failures. On the contrary, Iran has called them successes. Why? Because they're not trying for an ICBM-range test. All the Iranians need to do is load one of these things into the hold of any friendly ship, get within 100 miles of the U.S. coast, and fire it way high. They don't have to be accurate at all. One EMP over Kansas or so, and it's over. What's our response? Nuke the entire Middle East?
My guess: We'd be too busy gathering roots and boiling them for dinner.
Do I think all this is going to happen? Not really ... though it is disconcerting to note that in Ezekiel 38:5 Iran is mentioned, in ancient terms, as one of those countries united against Israel at Armageddon.
I have two main hopes: One, that the United States will noisily stage an EMP demo over some Pacific atoll (stocked with demo electrical equipment). And if that doesn't slow down Iran, we stage another demo over a lonely Iranian oil field – within days.
But my overriding hope is that the current growing wave of united prayer will rapidly snowball into Christians taking the initiative in warding off this evil before it even reaches the demo stage.
My guess: We'd be too busy gathering roots and boiling them for dinner.
If the U.S. government is aware ahead of this i bet there is a defense or contingency plan for this.. and i hope America can retaliate..
lol....does this guy not understand that people who read WND are specifically looking for doom and gloom articles?
I don't think that a nuclear explosion 300 miles above the surface would, in fact, do any such thing.
it was mentioned as one of our options being considered to use in Iraq
Anybody who goes to WorldNetDaily should have their BS alert meter set on high.
total crap
P.S. Forget about boiling roots. Rats are tastier and have more protein.
World Nuclear Destruction //sarc...
Well maybe, but at least it made us aware... im not a WND fan though.
"I don't think that a nuclear explosion 300 miles above the surface would, in fact, do any such thing."
Mukes were tested in space before..............
http://www.vce.com/nukes.html
During the heart of the Cold War, the United States and the former Soviet Union launched and detonated a combined total of over 20 thermo nuclear weapons in the upper atmosphere and near space region of earth in an effort to test the effects of launching an offense as well as countering an offense. Even during the Cuban Missile Crisis!
Almost unknown to the public, much of the information on theses tests has been kept secret for over 35 years until recently, when newly declassified test footage and secret government documents obtained from both countries reveals everything from the ICBM to outer space testing to ABM.
Gathering roots? With my shotgun and three rifles? How's that work?
Yikes i dont eat rats... i heard dog's meat are good but still i wont eat that.
EMP from a nuke at altitude is a real and well-known phenomenon.
http://www.fas.org/spp/starwars/congress/1997_h/h970716u.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_pulse
http://www.dtic.mil/doctrine/jel/doddict/data/e/01831.html
http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/report/1988/CM2.htm
What is less certain is Iran's ability to deliver such a strike without direct assistance from say, Russia or the PRC.
I've noticed that the WND has a track record slightly below the Weekly World News for accuracy, and they don't even feature the latest on Bat Boy.
The Euros would go into appeasement mode faster than you could blink.
Yup--it's called "nuclear missile launching submarines". Immune to any kind of EMP attack.
I hope this link works. BS my a$$.
http://www.house.gov/hasc/openingstatementsandpressreleases/108thcongress/04-07-22emp.pdf
EMP has been know about since the 1950's but unless a nation has an ICBM, there is no way to get a nuclear warhead over the United States high enough to create a continent wide EMP. Also, you would need a very large device, well into the megaton range to do significant damage. Iran doesn't have an ICBM nor do they have a thermonuclear weapon.
Cool. I bet Iran would be willing to push the button, if they were given the assets...
The source of the rocket would likely be easily determined and retaliation (using equivalent weapons) swift. It wouldn't damage the entire country but could still cause considerable damage in the commercial world.
We would detonate an EMP approximately 6 feet above street level in Tehran. That ought to do in the 2 or 3 radios and a couple of TVs they have.
"Mukes were tested in space before............."
That Muke stuned my beeber seriesly hugh!
If anyone wants to write the equation out, go for it.
What happens at work stays at work.
Yeah, I still recall their breathless scoop of an airphoto of a Chinese neutron bomb test.
That upon review by freepers showed it was a light bulb placed over a map.
If the Iranians will consider the option of using that bomb against the U.S. it will likely scare all Arabs in the Middle East... because America's retaliation will be against them all except Israel.. but i dont know how will America avoid Israel getting hit.
The difference between what you will not eat and what you will eat is generally about 24 hours.
But WND won't be determining your diet anytime soon.
Unless they could figure out how to lift Bravo up that high. Whereas the Iranians are still trying to figure out how to make their own Little Boy.
Nuke 'em anyway, who cares if they really did it. It would serve as an example to the world that you don't want to be the one twisting our tail when someone gets hurt.
I'm no expert, but the EMP from a nuke detonated at altitude is composed of three components (E1,E2,E3). The EMP is the result of interaction between gamma rays and the earth's atmosphere. Also, EMP interacts with the ionosphere. The result is damage to everything within line-of-sight of the detonation.
A blast at 300 kilometers would have a line-of-sight footprint of???
Do you really think that? Do you really not think that Iran will be the only turkey to get roasted if the US or Israel or any other place around there is attacked? Do you think they are not targeted already by subs, satellite, etc.?
Sorry, not your scenario... My bad, I should have realized this was someone like WND or Debka.
This is seriesly overblown. It's like worrying about fallout instead of the thermonuclear detonation itself.
An excerpt from here:
http://commdocs.house.gov/committees/security/has197010.000/has197010_1.HTM
Figure 1, which my colleague, Mr. Ron Wiltsie, is illustrating, and which is also on page 2 of your copy, shows the basic phenomenology of an EMP event. The detonation of a nuclear weapon produces high energy gamma radiation that travels radially away from the burst center. When the detonation occurs at high altitudes, greater than about 40 kilometers, the gamma rays directed toward the Earth encounter the atmosphere, where they interact with air molecules to produce positive ions and recoil electrons called Compton electrons, after the man who discovered the effect.
The gamma radiation, interacting with the air molecules, produces charge separation as the Compton recoil electrons are ejected and leave behind the more massive positive ions. The Earth's magnetic field interacts with the Compton recoil electrons and causes charge acceleration, which further radiates electromagnetic energy. EMP is produced by these charge separation and charge acceleration phenomena, which occur in the atmosphere in a layer about 20 kilometers thick and about 30 kilometers above the Earth's surface.
The area of the Earth's surface directly illuminated by EMP is determined entirely by the height of burst. All points on the Earth's surface within the horizon, as seen from the burst point, will experience EMP effects as depicted in figure 2, which is on page 3 of your handout. Note that a burst on the order of 500 kilometers in altitude can cover the entire continental United States.
Mr. WELDON. What strength burst would that be?
Dr. SMITH. It is not terribly burst-strength dependent; almost any burst will produce that kind of radiation. The strength of the field will change at the various radii from the burst point, but it will cover the same area regardless of the strength of the burst.
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The amplitude, duration and polarization of the wave depend on the location of the burst, the type of weapon, the yield, and the relative position of the observer. The electric field resulting from a high-altitude nuclear detonation can be on the order of 50 kilovolts per meter with a rise time on the order of 10 nanoseconds and a decay time to half maximum of about 200 nanoseconds. It is very fast.
A localized lightning strike, by comparison, 10 meters away, has a higher peak amplitude by about an order of magnitude, but it rises more slowly than the EMP peak, and therefore it may be simpler to protect against.
It is important to point out, however, that the peak amplitude, signal rise rate, and duration of the EMP wave are not uniform over the illuminated area; the largest peak intensities of the EMP signal occur in that region of the illuminated area where the line of sight to the burst is perpendicular to the Earth's magnetic field. At the edge of the illuminated area, that is, farthest towards the horizon as seen from the burst, the peak field intensity will be about half of the maximum levels, and the EMP fields will be somewhat longer lasting than in the areas where the peak intensities are the largest.
The EMP threat is unique in two respects. First, its peak field amplitude and rise rate are high. These quantities depend upon the rate of rise and the energy of the gamma ray output of the weapon. These features of EMP will induce potentially damaging voltages and currents in unprotected electronic circuits and components.
Second, the area covered by an EMP signal can be immense. As a consequence, large portions of extended power and communications networks, for example, can simultaneously be put at risk. Such far-reaching effects are peculiar to EMP. Neither natural phenomena nor any other nuclear weapon effects are so widespread.
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Much of what we depend on today would be susceptible to EMP effects, both in the military and civilian infrastructure. An electromagnetic field interacts with metallic conductors by inducing currents to flow through them. A television antenna, for example, is a collection of metal conductors arranged to facilitate the induced current flow in the frequency range allocated for television broadcasting and to transfer the signal to the receiver.
Other conducting structures, such as aircraft, ships, automobiles, railroad tracks, power lines, and communication lines connected to ground facilities, also effectively serve as receiving antennas for EMP coupling. If the resulting induced currents and voltages, which can be large, are allowed to interact with sensitive electronic circuit and components, they can induce an upset in digital logic circuits or cause damage to the components themselves.
Ground facilities, for example, those housing the large computers central to the functioning of our financial systems, are typically nodes in a larger network and are connected to overhead or buried cables for power and communication. They are also connected to buried pipes for water supply and waste disposal and are typically equipped with communication antennas and distributed security systems of various types. All of these features can direct EMP energy into the facility.
Analyses and simulated EMP testing have shown that currents carried to a facility by long overhead or buried conductors can reach thousands of amperes. Shorter penetrating conductors can carry hundreds of amperes into facilities. Direct EMP penetration through the walls and windows of an unshielded building can induce currents of tens of amperes on illuminated interior conductors.
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When EMP energy enters the interior of a potentially vulnerable system, it can cause a variety of adverse effects. These effects include transients, resettable or permanent upset of digital logic circuits, and performance degradation or burnout of electronic components. The collected EMP energy itself can cause malfunction or device failure directly, or it can trigger the system's internal power sources in unintended ways, causing damage by the power sources within the system itself.
In summary, EMP introduces two collectively unique features to the overall picture of system susceptibility to nuclear effects. These features, taken together, distinguish EMP from all other forms, both natural and man-made, of electrical stress and response. First, stresses induced by EMP can significantly exceed those ordinarily encountered in system circuits and components and can thereby increase the probability of upset and burnout occurring in electrical and electronic systems. Second, EMP can cause this increase to occur nearly simultaneously over a large area, about one million square kilometers for a high-altitude burst.
These unique features, together with the lack of occurrence of EMP-like phenomena in the normal day-to-day environment, cause great difficulty in attempting to deal with EMP as a normal engineering problem. In particular, EMP can induce multiple, simultaneous upsets and failures over this wide area.
The coverage and levels that would ensue from an EMP attack are well understood. However, the overall effects on specific terrestrial systems are not as well understood. How much of the telecommunications systems would fail and for how long, how much of the power grid would be disrupted and for how long, how many cars would stop and/or would not start are things that are extremely difficult to predict.
Yes, and they said all our crap wouldn't work after Y2K also. Some predicted Armageddon. That is not to say that an EMP attack wouldn't be disastrous. I just don't see Iran with enough of a bomb to do the job for the forseeable future, and certainly no delivery system for it. Besides the potential retaliation is far worse, they can't take us out everywhere at once, but we could them.
SO, you use D = 2 * d^2 / lambda.
D = best distance to disable electronics
d = cross-section of the target
lambda = the wavelength of your high-energy squarewave.
Now, this is just in free space without considering a bunch of other variables, but you have to start somewhere before you go out to buy your cigarettes and whatever nourishment of your choice.
It would be nice to know the pulse width and peak pulse power at the source before going further. And the height of the source. You have to define max and min limits composed of temperature, pressure, humidity that are part of absorption (attenuation) or reflection.
This is not a DC discharge as in lightning. This is RF power and all the microwave equations apply. If you know electrical relationships and physical-dimentional relationships and a moderate amount of calculus, look up microwave measurements and it will all fall into place for you. I've done this for 20 years and love making expensive things work! And I'm outdoors half the time like a little boy still!
Bomb yield isn't a huge factor. A 15-20kt fat man would be sufficient. It's a matter of portability and payload weight. A scud on a barge would be BAD news, if the payload was light enough...
And, Iran doesn't blink when it comes to "martyrdom". Remember the waves of children sent to be slaughtered by Iraqi forces. The folks in charge in Iran are, huh, DYING to be sent to allah as martyrs. Read some of the sh*t that their prez has spouted. He's on a mission from "god" to bring about the apocalypse. Unfortunately, the little ba$tard may be 1/2 right.
Before you totally dismiss it, take a gander at the link Dallas59 posted in #3. The claim has been made that an EMP can be produced without a nuclear device. PopSci had an article on this a while back, and Dallas59's linked page describes it in detail.
Before you totally dismiss it, take a gander at the link Dallas59 posted in #3. The claim has been made that an EMP can be produced without a nuclear device. PopSci had an article on this a while back, and Dallas59's linked page describes it in detail.
Sorry for double post.
The US carried out dozens of such tests in the Pacific to see what would happen.
EM communications were knocked out for a few hours.
The EMP threat is vastly (and I mean way extrememly vastly) overestimated.
It is is not going to fry your computer or your car's electronics or the power systems. They are not going to work for the few seconds that EM radiation overwhelms them when a bomb explodes but that is it.
EMP is not a new threat. Scientists and engineers have known about this since the nuclear age began at White Sands. The signifigance of this article is the fact that "consumer electronics" would be heavily damaged, however, critical military and government equipment are well shielded.
>How about the threat of one over Europe?
Europe? Why Europe? Europe isn't Iran's enemy.
If Iran explodes one such device, they'll explode it over their arch enemy Israel, not the Continent of Europe. But I don't think Iran has the gulls to do any such a thing. They're just bluffing.
>EMP has been know about since the 1950's but unless a nation has an ICBM, there is no way to get a nuclear warhead over the United States high enough to create a continent wide EMP.
The United States is not Iran's enemy - Israel is. Not only is Israel their number one enemy, but it's also an easier target.
Iran is bluffing. If they had the capability they would have used it long ago.
I doubt that Iran is even blithering about using an EMP weapon. This all comes from the kooky mind of another World Nut Daily writer, Joseph Farah. He has been predicting some kind of nuclear attack on the U.S. for several years now. So far, the Iranian EMP hasn't happened, the 30+ al-Qaeda nukes haven't happened, nor has any of his other predictions.
He sounds like a prophet of doom wishing the United States and Israel's annihilation.
Bingo!
And how many communication/data systems were dependant on transistors then? How about microchips? And there were how many embedded computers controlling what???
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