EmP Question

[PissedOffAmerican]

Hey Guy! So, as things are heating up with NK, i'm getting worried about a possible attack from them ir one of their allies. Is a car safe from an EMP attack? Is there anything we can do to prevent an attack on our car? Would disconnecting the battery help?

 

[DrHenley]

The studies I've seen say most cars will be fine if they are off when it occurs. Small battery powered electronics (such as cell phones) will also be fine because the circuits are too short to be effective antennae. Larger circuits, and especially power lines and building wiring will be the most affected because the wires are long enough to act as effective antennae.

Here is a 2010 study that was prepared for Oak Ridge National Laboratory:
https://www.ferc.gov/industries/electric/indus-act/reliability/cybersecurity/ferc_meta-r-320.pdf

 

[Kevin L]

To protect electronics from an EMP, one should use a faraday cage, which is simply a metal container that is grounded...with the interior insulated.

A metal garbage can with the inside covered in rubber is a possibility.

My answer to the whole EMP thing is to rely on stuff that doesn't use microchips. I have maps and a compass (to backup my GPS), a stockpile of trashy paperbacks for entertainment (instead of TV/cable/DVD), a mechanical wind-up wristwatch, and telescopic sights on a few of my rifles instead of red dot sights, and so on.

I do keep a few radios and high-tech flashlights in a faraday cage, which is a metal storage foot locker with a wood interior.

Also, if you become a good enough mechanic...you could store car electronic components in a homemade faraday cage and just replace them after the EMP event (if it happens).

 

[TexasFreedom]

I think people wanting cars post EMP are fooling themselves. Roads will be clogged with dead vehicles. And thugs will create road blocks to attack you if you do have a working car. And where are you going? Sure, I can see wanting to get family & getting to a BOL. But it will be a very, very, very dangerous situation.

In terms of creating an EMP-proof enclosure, ignore all the microwave & trash can FC's. They will not work. I did electromagnetics testing work for a decade. MilSpec guidelines recommend 1/8 - 1/4" thick plate metal for shielding from an EMP with no seams. The door for such an enclosure is $5-10k to make working 'seams'.

If you do require a car, get an old pre-electronics car. Like the IH 8cylinder diesel in pre--2000 ford trucks. Or early-80's mercedes 300d.

Doc, that looks like a good reference. But it only covers E1, I don't see where it addresses E3 energy. But I'll be reading it.

 

[Kevin L]

I like your point about the roads being clogged with dead cars, and thugs trying to steal functional cars.

My point is that electronics may not work post SHTF, so get conditioned enough to use a bicycle, and learn compass and map-reading skills. Older (and cheaper) flashlights may work instead of the modern LED lights that may use a microchip...and so on.

Personally, I worry about folks that have a pacemaker post EMP.

 

[Maverick]

Many new cars and trucks take direct lightening hits while on the road and survive it, I think it's safe to assume most will survive an EMP.

 

[Maverick]

We ought to keep in our minds that most tests are done in an controlled environment, everything outside this environment is hypothetical. As Starfish Prime has shown us in 62 things can happen beyond our control.

Only two countries poses the knowledge and technology to effectively detonate such a weapon 250 miles above the US.

 

[Kevin L]

Please tell me that one of these two countries isn't N.K. or Pakistan

 

[Maverick]

Please tell me that one of these two countries isn't N.K. or Pakistan

Besides us, china and russia

 

[jimLE]

Many new cars and trucks take direct lightening hits while on the road and survive it, I think it's safe to assume most will survive an EMP.

i wouldn't place any money on that..the power coming from a power line,gets dispersed by the vehicle's body..i watched a documentry back when i still had satellite tv.in which they pointed out.don't include the tires helping out.on account their steel belted tires.and as for a emp goes.i won't count on the vehicle's body to work as a faraday cage,or what ever.on account,i beleive it's like texasfreedom points out..it has to be seamless to work...and i'm also thinking.a emp works differently than the power from a power line...

 

[Maverick]

i wouldn't place any money on that..the power coming from a power line,gets dispersed by the vehicle's body..i watched a documentry back when i still had satellite tv.in which they pointed out.don't include the tires helping out.on account their steel belted tires.and as for a emp goes.i won't count on the vehicle's body to work as a faraday cage,or what ever.on account,i beleive it's like texasfreedom points out..it has to be seamless to work...and i'm also thinking.a emp works differently than the power from a power line...

Lightening is far far more powerful than power lines, even when cars have high power electrical lines slung over the vehicle it doesn’t kill the vehicle nor does it blow passenger jets out of the air. Satellites gets subjected to CMEs all the time it may disrupt them but by in large doesn’t permanently damage them.

I think we give EMP to much credit, the largest disrupters are power and phone lines because of the length and the multitude of items connected to it.

 

[DrHenley]

Doc, that looks like a good reference. But it only covers E1, I don't see where it addresses E3 energy. But I'll be reading it.

Texas, the E3 component is a geomagnetically induced current caused by a disruption of the Earth's magnetic field, and has very long wavelengths that primarily affect power lines and pipelines. Electronics that are not on the electrical grid should not be affected at all.

An EMP destroys electronics by hitting them with an electromagnetic wave, that is then converted into an electrical current. The everyday item we are all familiar with that converts electromagnetic waves into electrical currents is called the "antenna."

So basically anything that can act as an antenna, and has a closed circuit attached, can have an electrical current generated in an EMP of any type. But in order to act as an antenna, the wavelength needs to match the length of the antenna. The E3 component required a very long antenna.

 

[Gazrok]

Besides us, china and russia

While true, the two of them also offer possible ways through which NK could get the tech.