SOLAR FLARE VS. NEMP ATTACK (Nuclear Electromagnetic Pulse)I received an email day before yesterday about the possibility of a solar flare wiping out civilization during these next several years when occurrences of greater mass ejection will occur. We are in that greater mass ejection period right now. The email was a “freak out”, “the sky is falling”, kind of presentation, and, as usual, an NEMP (Nuclear Electromagnetic Pulse) attack was thrown in, too, as causing the same destruction. But, the information was incorrect about both occurrences, anyway.
Some time ago (think it was the time during eye surgeries when I wasn’t writing articles), I researched solar flares and NEMP attacks to determine the difference between the two if there was one – there are differences.
I didn’t save these scientists’ discussions of the differences, but I remember them since they weren’t difficult to remember, they made sense, and made a definite impression on me due to the misinformation people have about these. The report was by scientists in electromagnetic energy, not Doomsday Preppers. Below, when considering a NEMP, is the link to the “Report of the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack”. Part of that report, beginning on page 114, are the results of testing cars and trucks by bombarding them with electromagnetic pulses – those experiments apply to both solar flares and NEMP attack as people think a solar flare will destroy a car/truck.
Most people, I think, lump these two occurrences together because it seems no one considers the two separate. When one thinks about it, they probably would be different in some way because one is nature and one is manmade.
Let’s consider the differences, staring with nature:
SOLAR FLARE:The sun throws off a mass of “really hot stuff” to put it mildly. Here is the important part: it goes in a STRAIGHT LINE when it is thrown away from the sun. Anything in that straight line is going to be hit. Astronomers can calculate where that straight line is going, so they know if it’s going to hit earth or come close to earth, or never coming even close. These ejections happen from any part of the sun – they also vary in power and there is a scale to rate them. The possibility is there that a strong straight line ejection could hit earth and we are in a time of stronger ones.
If one did hit earth, it’s electromagnetic properties send it straight into our electric grid. Wow, it missed your car, yes it did. It missed anything not plugged into the electric grid. Picture an arrow going into the electric grid – it doesn’t touch anything except that grid. It would fry your TV plugged into the wall. If you had a TV not plugged into the wall, it would be fine. If you have any appliance plugged into the wall that you aren’t using, for precaution right now, unplug it. It doesn’t need to be plugged in, you were just too lazy to unplug it the last time you used it, so unplug it now since you have a reason. Nothing unplugged needs to be in a Faraday Cage as it won’t be harmed. Cars/trucks/any method of conveyance not plugged into power will be okay. If you are so unlucky to have a Prius car plugged into power to recharge it’s battery at the time the flare hits power lines, it will be fried.
If you start at page 114 of the Commission report on a NEMP attack, you will find that test of cars/trucks being hit with electromagnetic charges, and very little happened and what did happen to a few was a “nuisance” factor rather than destruction of the vehicle. A few cars stopped running but ran again immediately when started again. So, even if a solar created electromagnetic pulse did hit a car/truck, they are still okay. Further on in that report, police cars and emergency vehicles (ambulances/fire trucks) were tested and the only problem was a mobile computer used to input data had to be rebooted and it was fine. The majority of people think cars and trucks will be destroyed and that is not the case. Why haven’t more people read this report? It is 181 pages long with an Appendix after that. Can people not concentrate long enough to read 181 pages so they ignore the whole thing?
The underground transit in New York City and other cities that are “plugged” in to power, will be fried.
Huge power grid transformers will be destroyed and they are only made overseas and cost a fortune so companies don’t keep many on hand – I read a figure of there are about 300 of those in this main power grid. It will take years, I read a figure of two years, to get enough of those made and here, plus other repairs to get power back on. It will be bad and preppers will do better than any other group to get through that period. People are going to die for many reasons, so many reasons there isn’t room to list them, but you all know what those reasons are – hospitals can’t function due to no power, no medicines, water, food, warmth, cooling, money, jobs, everything disrupted due to the grid down.
But, again, everything is not lost as those items not required to be plugged in, are still working – the destruction is limited to the grid. When you hear someone say nothing is going to move except horses after a solar flare hits earth, you will know that is incorrect. Something will have to be devised to distribute gasoline but government and the military will figure that out. Hmm, a huge amount of the gasoline used in this country is refined in the area around southeast Houston, in Pasadena and Baytown, and Texas City just down Hwy. 45 south of Houston. Those will be locations on the list of important places to get power working as fast as possible.
NEMP ATTACK: A nuclear blast in the upper atmosphere sends SCATTERED electromagnetic impulses over a region – it doesn’t go in a straight line as the solar ejection did – it’s more like an umbrella effect, pulses thrown out over a limited region. The size of the region is determined by how strong the nuclear blast is and the height of the blast and where it is in the country. The higher it is, the larger the region affected. We know from the car/truck tests, that vehicles will still run even if they are running at the time of the blast. Their prophesied failure is so engrained in preppers that I doubt many will accept those tests as valid. You can read how they did the tests and decide for yourself – start at page 114. Then, read the whole report and learn from it. You should read the biographies in the Appendix of the ones on the commission to determine your faith in their expertise to produce this report.
The grid does go down in a NEMP – the grid is connected from coast to coast. I don’t know if the parts of the grid not in the damage zone, would be spared destruction, but I doubt it as the grid is interconnected and there’s nothing to stop the pulse once it’s in the grid. There is one other grid in this country and it’s separate from that main grid, and that is the Texas grid. I studied this years ago, pre-2000. Our grid for us Texans, is separate, plus we sell power we don’t need to Mexico so there is a physical line connection to Mexico. If Texas is outside the region limit of destruction, its grid should still work. If it is inside the destruction region, it will be fried just as the other grid.
This NEMP regional destruction is limited by distance from ground zero where it went off (guess I should say it is “sky” zero instead of “ground” zero) and how high it is. According to scientists, a NEMP attack on the east coast will not destroy all the way to the west coast (and north/south would be included in that). If an Asian country (such as North Korea) exploded such a weapon, the closest coast to them is the west coast so it would die out before it got to the east coast. The worst area to explode one is over central USA. One report used Kansas as the worst location to affect more of the country. I didn’t read it would cover the entire US but I suppose it would depend on the strength/height of the nuclear blast to determine the limit of destruction from over Kansas. Here is the link to the Commission report (a pdf file you can save on your computer if you want.)
http://empcommission.org/docs/A2473-EMP_Commission-7MB.pdfFaraday Cage:I have read it will work and I have read it won’t work. I recall this was covered by the scientists and they discounted the value of them for either situation. In a solar flare situation, it likely wouldn’t be needed if the devices weren’t plugged in and the pulse is in the electric grid. Lovers of Faraday Cages will likely dispute this reasoning because they have them or love them or make them for sale. If you feel safer having your devices in a Faraday Cage right this minute, use it.
Recall the car/truck test of magnetic pulses doing no damage, or just nuisance malfunction to cars/trucks even if they were running. If they are not destroyed with all the electronic components they have, why would smaller devices with less electronic parts in them be affected?
If you have a Faraday Cage or want one, use it to be on the safe side to make yourself feel better. You should have your devices in there now as we might not know when a NEMP attack would happen. We should have notice before a solar flare gets here.
I have a metal box that seals well, it’s about 18x18 and about 10 inches high, and have saved Styrofoam from a box that came in the mail, to line the metal box all around, and have that as a Faraday Cage. My emergency radio with TV channels, and Sony short wave receiver will go in there. I haven’t lined that metal box yet. That is what you have to do to make one. A good metal box (many use a metal trashcan with a tight fitting lid, line it with something not metal (some use aluminum foil) all the way around, including under the metal lid, so no metal is bare to your devices, and seal it. The idea is, the pulse goes around the can, staying with the metal, and can’t get to your devices with no exposed metal around them. Electrical engineers have varied opinions about Faraday Cages working.
There is no doubt a solar flare hitting earth is different in result that a nuclear electromagnetic pulse attack.
