Discussion»Statements»Rosie's Corner» Other than lightning strikes what else can cause an EMP (electromagnetic pulse)? What worst-case damage do EMP'S do?
Nuclear explosions can cause them. If detonated high in the atmosphere, they will cause no physical damage, but the resulting EMP could wipe out everything that has delicate electronic circuitry. This would include automobiles run with computers, computer systems, TV and radio, nearby satellites and power grids. It would be devastating. There are other non-nuclear sources that can be weaponized in a limited range for tactical use.
Hahahahahahahahahahaha! YOU COULD? What would hold it up? Maybe use it for INSULATION in roofs? Boy the tinfoil manufacturer's would LOVE it! That is creative thinking. Congrats! SIGH. Are the tinfoil manufacturer's booked solid with FOOTOO folks? QANONS? HATE groups? Thank you for your reply E. Maybe you should get some patents on that. Make a killing on SHARK TANK? What could it hurt?
Thanks for the info. Something else to Google which I shall so do as soon as I post this. I always conflated the two. Said tin when aluminum was on the roll. I JUST LOOKED. Yep. Aluminum it is. Thank you for your reply! :)
How often does lightning strike something on the ground R? I sometimes see and hear it CRACKLING across the sky at a distance. It can be very loud and scary but also exciting! Thunderstorms don't often happen in southern California. We had a few days of off and on rain. We get a respite this weekend but Monday another big storm is supposed to come through. We shall see! Thank you for your informative reply m'dear! :)
Here the majority of the lightning is cloud to cloud. That is where you get beautiful displays, especially at night. Ground strikes are awesome if you aren't close to them. Twice I thought I was going to die that day...I was on golf courses when t-storms hit.
The best thing to do if you're on a golf course when a thunderstorm arrives is to hold a one iron over your head. Why? The three iron is a very difficult club to learn to play right, it takes years of meticulous practice. A two iron is almost impossible - but not even God can hit a one iron. (With thanks to Lee Trevino, it's his joke). I played golf once, I shot an 89. Then on the second hole ...
That's a lovely photo, Element. Your work, I take it?
The damage a high-power EMP can do will depend on its intensity at the point of impact, and that in turn depends on its source power and its distance away.
(The intensity of any radiated signal falls by the square of its distance away, so at 2 miles it is 1/4 of the intensity at 1 mile, at 4 miles 1/16 of the original, and so on.)
The problem is that a lot of electronic equipment is electrically very fragile, so even a relatively low power pulse may be enough to harm it, or at least interfere with it enough to disrupt what it was doing, such as communicating data.
Things like electricity transmission systems should be able to withstand an EMP, seeing it as a sudden over-load like a lightning strike that can be controlled by appropriate circuit-breakers, earth-bonding, etc. A high-power overhead electricity line - the sort carried on large steel towers - normally has a single cable above the main ones, joining the tops of all the towers. That is an earth-lead, to deflect lighting-strikes harmlessly to earth, but I don't know it would have a somewhat similar effect on an electromagnetic pulse.
Did you ever notice that in movies/TV, the lightning is followed by an immediate thunder clap with no delay? The largest, most powerful one I ever saw/heard was a mile away. I found out the next day it hit one of my teacher colleague's house and burned it down.
I'd not really noticed that, but now you mention it,... yes!
Awful for your colleague though. A dreadful thing to happen. It reminds us that while thunderstorms can be impressive to watch they can also be very destructive. I hope no-one was hurt.
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Last Winter there was a report of an instance called something like "snow lightning", in Edinburgh as I recall. It is an ordinary thunderstorm but with snow instead of rain - a very rare event.
I recall some 20 years ago now being among a number of people out in the seafront yard of a pub, watching a thunderstorm over the hills inland, some 6 or 8 miles away. We were just about under the fringing clouds, and had a few spots of rain, but no more than that.
Suddenly someone called out, "Look at her hair!"
Everyone turned, to see a girl with long hair sitting up on the wall, slightly higher than most of us. The storm's electrical field had drawn her hair vertically upwards, rather like the comic-strip way of indicating sudden fright.
It was certainly impressive and a bit alarming, and I don't think she'd realised it was happening.
Element 99 