Emp

[David Lindon]

I was watching a show on tv the other day where they were discussing AI and the topic came up what would happen if an EMP was unleashed on part of the world which is quite scary!!

They were discussing whether terrorists could get their hands on one and set it off to wipe out every microchip nearby.

Anyone else heard of them?

 

[Kage]

Yeah I have! I posted something on it a while back. Even though its scary, I found it rather interesting, about the power Electromagnetic Pulse bombs hold (Nuclear doesn't though...as i find that really scary)

I saw a tv program so maybe you saw the same one. Did they have a computer a room at one point, and set an emp off in there to watch the computer frazzle?

Yeah, its about 10,000 miles up that it would cause problems for a part of the world i think it was.

It is a pretty scary concept...i mean, we rely on electronic equipment every day of our lives to survive... I wouldn't say the chances of it happening are impossible either...

 

[jay8990]

I've always thought this an interesting topic but have always had a question about it no-one has been able to answer?

When a nuclear weapon is detonated it releases an emp knocking out electronic equipment yeah? well why when planes drop nuclear bombs dont they fall out the sky? they must surely still be in range of it - so surely fall fatal to it? obviously not, but how not?

 

[Kage]

The answer to that questuion is obviouslty some kind of protection aginast itself. EMP can be protected against using a kind of material and military houses for example and places like that do have emp protection built into them. I'd assume nuclear bombs do to, and anyway, the EMP wouldn only be caused after the explosion, so it would be too late for it to stop the missle detonating.

EMP though is a special bomb, and isn't nuclear in that sense, as it wouldn't harm human beings at a far distance, though really close and it'd cause quite a bit of harm of course, and basically are just built to cause as much harm to electronic equipmwent as possible. I mean even a small EMP is capable of knocking out quite a bit at a near range.

 

[BuzzStPoint]

I'd like a mini EMP gun to zap my neighbors stero in his apartment

 

[Nik00117]

LMAO. Yea I'm sure the important stuff. You know the stuff that decides if you live or not is protectd. Also um planes don't neccesrilly have to be flown by wire. I'm sure the wright brothers didn't fly by wire. Considering the light was like the computer back then NEW! But yea it is scary. Even if they just let one loose near a school. Do you know how much freaking money would lost? Heh if they let one loose in my neighborhood I wouldn't be surpise 50k or so worth in tech would be lost between 4 houses.

 

[Kage]

Probably more than that to tell the truth dependning on the size. It would defineitly kill alot of stuff. Mobiles, Computers, fridges, ovens, microwaves (even that sort of stuff is harmful to it as they all contain computer chips to handle stuff), tv's, cars (the basic computer systems), basically everything electornic you can tihnk of...

Imagine banks, no money. Imagine food processing, no food. Imagine shops, no coolers, no food. Imagine electricity places, no electricity (though i'd expect these to be shielded)

So pretty dangerous, yeah...

 

[Dishdog]

The answer to that questuion is obviouslty some kind of protection aginast itself. EMP can be protected against using a kind of material and military houses for example and places like that do have emp protection built into them. I'd assume nuclear bombs do to, and anyway, the EMP wouldn only be caused after the explosion, so it would be too late for it to stop the missle detonating.

Major computer companies are shielded too.

 

[Kage]

Yeah, I would have expected that from them. Anything important should be shielded from them, because the idea of doing backups of all your data to keep your business in order and plcaing the hard drives somewhere is a great idea...though wouldn't do too good without shielding if they lost everything on the drives and went out of business.

Plus, they are urged to place backups somewhere else, like a seperate building anyway.

 

[root]

it doesn't wipe chips, it just temporarily dissrupts the flow of anything electrical, including lights, cars and yes computer chips...

it's over in a few seconds, and (anythign that survives) goes back to working as normal

yes there is a range, and no I don't think there is any kind of shielding, but i might be wrong about that...