Another temptation for terrorists: homemade EMP weapons

Popular Mechanics ^ | Sept 2001 | Jim Wilson

[Psalm118]

We have been warned, I guess...(groooaaaannnn....)

BTW check out the excellent illustrations on the Website.

[Cicero]

Popular Mechanics is now in the business of giving detailed instructions to terrorists in how to build devices to destroy civilization?

Maybe this sort of thing increases their current circulation, but it could be very damaging to future sales if civilization vanishes, no?

[Libertarianize the GOP]

ping

[Pukin Dog]

Pure unadulterated nonsense.

The article fails to mention that the range of these so-called poor-mans EMP weapons is very, very small. That would mean that these devices would have to be deployed WITHIN a facility to do any damage at all. EMP weapons with any decent range are too large and way too sophisticated to be of any use to terrorists.

Our own government used to have to use a nuke to get enough available power for decent EMP ranging.

So, relax.

[palmer]

Hasn't this been debunked? Something about lack of range I think.

[palmer]

Yes, in fact it was debunked in post 4.

[bicycle thug]

This was the only real world weapon that humans in the movie the Matrix had against their machine enemy.

Interesting article. Scary as Hell too.

[hocndoc]

Are there instructions on how to shield electronics?

[Leroy S. Mort]

2 year old article. Could be a bit dated.

[Psalm118]

"The article fails to mention that the range of these so-called poor-mans EMP weapons is very, very small. That would mean that these devices would have to be deployed WITHIN a facility to do any damage at all. EMP weapons with any decent range are too large and way too sophisticated to be of any use to terrorists.

Our own government used to have to use a nuke to get enough available power for decent EMP ranging.

So, relax."

Okay boss, I'm relaxed...

...well...I AM TRYIN!

Now tell me what about going under some transmission line way way out in the boonies and firing one of 'em crackers at the overhead lines?. Still a dud, you say?.

[paulsy]

"Now tell me what about going under some transmission line way way out in the boonies and firing one of 'em crackers at the overhead lines?. Still a dud, you say?."

And didn't the big NE power outage last month start with just a few lines somewhere?

[Pukin Dog]

Yes, still a dud. Too much attenuation on those lines for the surge to travel far.

[NewRomeTacitus]

Wanted:
Tight-focus unidirectional EMP device to disrupt obnoxious neighbors' stereo. Not necessary to destroy circuitry but functional disruption a must. Most parts need to be obtainable at retail outlets.

[Lokibob]

No, it was a series of problems on different lines over a 4 hour period. HMMMMMMMMMM.......

[Abcdefg]

"Maybe this sort of thing increases their current circulation . . ."

Good one!

[Servant of the 9]

The effective radius of the largest proposed non nuclear EMP device is only a few hundred meters. It would take a saturation attack with thousands of weapons at once to take out even one city.

So9

[steplock]

You don't need to take out the entire city!

set one off atop the empire State bldg? wall street area?

One atop the tallest bldg in any city would be enough to cause massive damage and sheer terror.

Mission accomplished on the cheap!

[Willie Green]

Popular Mechanics is now in the business of giving detailed instructions to terrorists in how to build devices to destroy civilization?
2 year old article. Could be a bit dated.

But Popular Science just published a newer article that outlines how this technology can be applied to destroy our economy!

Making Small Change Smaller

The art of shrinking coins using copper coils, magnetic fields and enough energy to power a small city.

PUCKER MONEY
Five thousand joules shrinks most coins to about
half their normal size, surface details vividly intact.
(Photograph by Jeff Sciortino)

by Theodore Gray
Popular Science
October 2003

I remember driving past a fraternity house when I was a teenager and wondering why I could tell instantly that someone was playing the drums live, not on a stereo. Live drums, I realized, have a sharper attack than any electronic reproduction, and the distinction is obvious to the drums in our ears. But shouldn't it be possible to hit a speaker cone with a magnetic field just as hard as you can hit a drum with a stick?

It turns out it is, but frat boys simply don't have the technology. Engineers, on the other hand, can potentially go way beyond annoying the neighbors should they choose to get involved in the sport of hitting things really hard with magnetic fields. Take, for example, my friend Bert Hickman, a retired electrical engineer living outside Chicago: He rather enjoys using magnetic force to smash coins to roughly half their normal size. (He then sells them on eBay, of course.)

Bert's high-voltage equipment takes up most of his screened-in porch (from the looks of things, his wife drew a line at the sliding door—there's a clear border between tidy suburban house and chaotic suburban lab). Bert begins the coin-shrinking process by wrapping a quarter in copper wire and bolting the leads to copper bus bars, which are connected, by way of a triggered spark gap, to a 600-pound bank of 12,000-volt capacitors. A bulletproof blast shield encloses the coin and coil, and a high-voltage power supply charges up the capacitors. The only thing holding back the several thousand joules of energy stored in the capacitors is the tiny space between the spark gap's two brass discs.

Pressing a switch triggers the spark gap, which releases the entire charge through the coil in 25 millionths of a second. This creates a huge magnetic field, which induces a current and then a magnetic field inside the coin, which in turn pushes back against the field outside. The repulsion force between these two fields crushes the metal, instantly taking a quarter down to the size of a dime. A large amount of energy discharged in a short amount of time usually entails an explosion, and in this case the copper coil is blown apart with a brilliant flash and a satisfying bang. And, yes, the report is sharper than any drum, proving that you really can hit something as hard with magnetic force as you can with a drumstick.

Bert happily takes custom orders by mail (he charges a shrinking fee, though —visit www.teslamania.com for info). "Clad" U.S. coins, such as quarters, work best—they contain a conductive copper core sandwiched between a nickel-copper alloy—but most metal currencies will do the trick. Just don't send him your 1937 three-legged buffalo nickel by mistake.

[Lurker]

But could it destroy, say an obnnoxiously loud 'boom boom' type car stereo as it was passing my house?

Just asking for no reason....honest.

L

[Pukin Dog]

Now that it could do. Worth an investment if you ask me.