Posted on 09/25/2011 1:30:34 PM PDT by IbJensen
Most Americans do not know this, but a single EMP attack could potentially wipe out most of the electronics in the United States and instantly send this nation back to the 1800s.
If a nuclear bomb was exploded high enough in the atmosphere over the middle part of the country, the electromagnetic pulse would fry electronic devices from coast to coast. The damage would be millions of times worse than 9/11. Just imagine a world where nobody has power, most cars will not start, the Internet has been fried, the financial system is offline indefinitely, nobody can make any phone calls and virtually all commerce across the entire country is brought to a complete stop. » If you like this article, please subscribe to our daily newsletter
Life-After-An-EMP-Attack-No-Power-No-Food-No-Transportation-No-Banking-And-No-Internet-250x150A nation that does not know how to live without technology would be almost entirely stripped of it at that point. Yes, this could really happen. An EMP attack is America's "Achilles heel", and everyone around the world knows it. It is only a matter of time before someone uses an EMP weapon against us, and at this point we are pretty much completely unprepared.
The sad thing is that we are spending hundreds of billions of dollars hunting down "terrorists" in caves on the other side of the globe and we have been told that because of "national security" it is necessary for our private areas to be touched before we are allowed to get on an airplane, but our government is doing essentially nothing to address what is perhaps our biggest security vulnerability.
What would you and your neighbors do if the power went out and it did not ever come back on? What would you do if an EMP attack happened in the middle of the winter and you suddenly were not able to heat your home any longer? What would you do if all the electronics in your car got fried and you simply could not drive anywhere? What would you do if all the supermarkets in your area shut down because food could not be transported across the country anymore? What would you do if you were suddenly unable to call your family and friends for help? What would you do if you were suddenly unable to get the medicine that you needed? What would you do if your debit cards and credit cards simply did not work any longer and you could not get any of your money out of the bank? What would you do if all of these things happened all at once?
A single EMP attack would be the worst disaster that the United States has ever seen by far. An electromagnetic pulse could potentially fry the vast majority of all the microchips in the United States. In an instant, nearly all of our electronic devices would be rendered useless.
Yes, the federal government knows all about this. The following excerpt is from an April 2008 report by the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack....
“The consequences of lack of food, heat (or air conditioning), water, waste disposal, medical, police, fire fighting support, and effective civil authority would threaten society itself.”
Most of us have become completely and totally dependent on electricity and technology. Without it, most of us would be in huge trouble.
The following is how an article in the Wall Street Journal described the potential consequences of an EMP attack....
No American would necessarily die in the initial attack, but what comes next is potentially catastrophic. The pulse would wipe out most electronics and telecommunications, including the power grid. Millions could die for want of modern medical care or even of starvation since farmers wouldn't be able to harvest crops and distributors wouldn't be able to get food to supermarkets. Commissioner Lowell Wood calls EMP attack a "giant continental time machine" that would move us back more than a century in technology to the late 1800s.
It wouldn't be so bad if we had the knowledge and the infrastructure to live the way that they did back in the 1800s, but today that is simply not the case.
Dr. William Graham was Ronald Reagan’s science adviser and the chairman of the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack. Dr. Graham believes that in the event of a large scale EMP attack, the vast majority of Americans would either freeze, starve or die from disease.
Food Storage SystemAccording to Graham, in the aftermath of an EMP attack life in America "would probably be something that you might imagine life to be like around the late 1800s but with several times the population we had in those days, and without the ability of the country to support and sustain all those people."
Would you be able to survive?
All of those big bank accounts may never be able to be recovered after an EMP attack. Your money might be instantly fried out of existence.
The following is what Graham believes would happen to the financial system in the event of an EMP attack....
“Most financial records are stored electronically. ATMs, which depend upon both power and telecommunications, would not be available; banks, which try to back up records but in general aren’t strongly aware of the EMP problem, would face the problem of unprotected storage and computer systems”
This is the danger of having a financial system that is so dependent on technology. We may wake up one day and find that all the money is gone.
But if an EMP attack actually happened, the biggest concern for most of us would be trying to figure out how to survive.
The president of the Center for Security Policy, Frank Gaffney, is convinced that a single EMP attack could result in the deaths of the vast majority of the population of the United States....
"Within a year of that attack, nine out of 10 Americans would be dead, because we can't support a population of the present size in urban centers and the like without electricity"
Are you starting to get a feel for the scope of the problem?
The sad thing is that so much could be done to protect this country from an EMP attack.
Right now, most vital U.S. military infrastructure has at least some protection from an EMP attack.
But the general population has been left completely and totally vulnerable.
It has been estimated that the entire power grid could potentially be protected for about 20 billion dollars. Considering the fact that we have spent over 400 billion dollars in Afghanistan, I think that we could afford it.
We have spent our national security dollars very, very badly and someday it is going to come back to bite us in the rear end.
Right now, other nations around the world are working feverishly to develop EMP weapons. The following is from a statement by Dr. Peter Vincent Pry to the United States Senate Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security on March 8th, 2005....
Russian and Chinese military scientists in open source writings describe the basic principles of nuclear weapons designed specifically to generate an enhanced-EMP effect, that they term "Super-EMP" weapons. "Super-EMP" weapons, according to these foreign open source writings, can destroy even the best protected U.S. military and civilian electronic systems.
But it is not just Russia and China that have been developing "Super-EMP" weapons. According to Newsmax, it is believed that North Korea may have tested a "Super-EMP" weapon back in 2009....
North Korea’s last round of tests, conducted in May 2009, appear to have included a “super-EMP” weapon, capable of emitting enough gamma rays to disable the electric power grid across most of the lower 48 states
Remember, all it would take is one strategically placed EMP attack to wipe out this nation.
But an EMP weapon is not the only danger that can produce this type of effect. The truth is that a really bad geomagnetic storm could also potentially produce almost as much damage.
This is something that everyone knows is one of our biggest vulnerabilities and it is something that we can make preparations for.
Yet the Bush administration and the Obama administration have just stood there and have done nothing.
Our idiocy is astounding.
General Eugene Habiger, the former head of U. S. Strategic Command, has said the following about the possibility of an EMP attack in the future....
“It is not a matter of if, it is a matter of when.”
Remember, this is something that could cause millions times more damage than 9/11 did.
Instead of molesting old ladies at airports and chasing goat herders around the mountains of Afghanistan, perhaps we should be addressing our largest security vulnerabilities.
But that would require using some common sense. Sadly, common sense seems to be in very short supply in Washington D.C. these days.
So if the government is not going to do anything about it, that means that it is up to you to prepare yourself and your family. This world is becoming very unstable and disasters can strike at any time.
We all saw what happened after Hurricane Katrina. The government response was a nightmare. An EMP attack would be millions of times worse and the federal government probably would not even be able to get you and your family any assistance.
You would truly be on your own.
So are you ready?
This is yet another reason why the number of preppers in the United States is exploding. A lot of people can see how the world is changing and they understand that the federal government is not going to come through for them when the chips are down.
An EMP attack could end life as we know it at any time.
It is a glaring security vulnerability and the entire world knows that it is there.
I hope that you are getting ready, because the government certainly is not.
See End of the American Dream Website
Not even a microprocessor will be affected. There simply isn’t enough EMF generated by EMP to create enough energy to harm anything that small. Inductance is the name of the game here and EMP just doesn’t provide enough energy to induce high enough currents in such short wires to do damage. Nearby Lightening bolts generate more force and we don’t all freak out about those and we recover just fine from those bolts that do strike things like power lines.
Another good technical question. Electricity is generated when a conductor moves past a magnet (or vice-versa). The more magnet, conductor, or speed, the more elektrikity. Nukes to a lot of all of that.
An EMP generates a induced current in stuff that isn't actually attached. Think radio antennas inducing a current in remote radio antennas.
So, your genset gets exposed to an EMP and that wire that runs from the kill switch to the condenser(capacitor) arcs the capacitor out.
Need a new one to get the genset to start.
You can make your own, if you know how.
/johnny
Starfish Prime was 1.4 MT. Your scenario has a warhead of significantly less yield. Don’t think the results would equal your claim.
“a single EMP attack COULD potentially wipe out most of the electronics in the United States and instantly send this nation back to the 1800s......
If a nuclear bomb was exploded high enough in the atmosphere over the middle part of the country, the electromagnetic pulse WOULD fry electronic devices from coast to coast.”
Which is it - COULD or WOULD? Nobody really knows. This is BS.
AMEN BROTHER! My concern, I don't worry either, with me being single and the kids gone... is tornadic weather. It's the local big killer. But I find that preparing for the tornados and bad weather also leaves me prepared for house-fires, mutant zombie bikers, and democratic administrations.
/johnny
“We all saw what happened after Hurricane Katrina. The government response was a nightmare”
When are they gonna stop with this.
Once Bush took over Katrina response from the incompetent mayor and governor, the respone was magnificent
It was govt action BEFORE Katrina that was a disaster
When are they gonna stop with this.
Once Bush took over Katrina response from the incompetent mayor and governor, the response was magnificent
It was govt action BEFORE Katrina that was a disaster
Maybe I'm wrong, but I am told by those who would know, that EMP has way less affect on electronic devices that are not powered up. An idle generator, for example.
A big part of your car's computer is on pretty much all the time, however they are also pretty well shielded. (See above discussions on Faraday cage.) Steel body is good Faraday cage. That's why your mom told you that you were safer in the car than out of it during a lightning storm.
It's also why you have a surge protector on your sensitive electronics at home. You do have that don't you? Lightning hits power lines all the time without destroying civilization.
It will be 1873, without all the implements and knowledge that made 1873 possible.
There will be communities that will pull through just fine. Until the marauding gangs get there.
We are only one week from anarchy in any decent sized city.
BHO won't respond.
All transportation stops.
All cooling, and most heating stops.
All food harvesting and delivery stops.
All communication stops.
All law enforcement stops.
When it happens, it may last months, or a year, or years.
Because Gaffney and crew want some govenment contracts. They can’t be proven right or wrong. Given the current bunch of incompetents in office they might give them $500 million or so.
This EMP scare started 30 years ago and went away. It’s starting again, but not all of us have forgotten the first iteration.
My old Briggs & Stratton has points. Now the question is will the voltage regulator be protected and the magneto lose residual magnetism. I think if they have a magneto ignition, they may still work. If all else fails hot wire it. If that fails I’ll be at the cabin watching TV by candle light!
Back in the '60s, the 19 inch wire in GE televisions leading to the volume pot did a great job of picking up 2 meter AM.
Lots of complaints about that.
You must be new to electricity. After the tubes and 25 lb transformers and stuff.
/johnny
I could do the same. However, I’d need some 1930’s light bulbs with 10 gauge tungsten filaments before I’d promise the lights would stay on for any length of time.
I think the most likely scenario is going to be voltage induced through the windings in the power supply transformers and possed on to the circuit boards from there.
“But I find that preparing for the tornados and bad weather also leaves me prepared for house-fires, mutant zombie bikers, and democratic administrations.”
Bingo. Preparation is a state of mind, and an outlook on life, not a checklist of things to buy (though, those things help). Self reliance is a good thing, and something we, as a society have lost. It’s vital for people to pull together, roll up their sleeves and help out one another, and if that happens, we can get through everything.
That having been said, let me tell you, I do not come from tornado country, but that my mother does, and they scare her, and are something I hope to never, ever, have to deal with! As a school kid I saw a dust devil (tiny, tiny tornado of dust and sand) throw a teacher against a chainlink fence, and I’ll never forget the look of terror, desperation and helplessness that she had on her face! No thanks!
I was planning on using liberals for lighting and heat.
/johnny
Starfish Prime was 1.4 MT. Your scenario has a warhead of significantly less yield. Don’t think the results would equal your claim.Perhaps. It does depend upon several factors, including the size of the bomb, the altitude and the Earth's magnetic field in the affected area.
Here's part of what Wikipedia has to say:
The EMP damage of the Starfish Prime test was quickly repaired because of the ruggedness (compared to today)[9] of the electrical and electronic infrastructure of Hawaii in 1962. Realization of the potential impacts of EMP became more apparent to some scientists and engineers during the 1970s as more sensitive solid-state electronics began to come into widespread use.The relatively small magnitude of the Starfish Prime EMP in Hawaii (about 5600 volts/metre) and the relatively small amount of damage done (for example, only 1 to 3 percent of streetlights extinguished)[10] led some scientists to believe, in the early days of EMP research, that the problem might not be as significant as was later realized. Newer calculations[9] showed that if the Starfish Prime warhead had been detonated over the northern continental United States, the magnitude of the EMP would have been much larger (22 to 30 kilovolts/metre) because of the greater strength of the Earth's magnetic field over the United States, as well as the different orientation of the Earth's magnetic field at high latitudes. These new calculations, combined with the accelerating reliance on EMP-sensitive microelectronics, heightened awareness that the EMP threat could be a very significant problem.
“but how does it prevent me from firing up my generator after the attack?”
It won’t, if the genset is not connected. EMP threat is not about components, but rather interfaces and the connections between things like wires, ports, antennas.
If you had a “microcircuit” sitting around nothing would happen to it. Connect a long wire to it and ground some other pin and you could get enough energy to fry it.
Something heavy like an electric motor would not be affected.
Also from the article:
The geomagnetic storm-like E3 pulse (from the test designated as “Test 184”) even induced an electric current surge in a long underground power line that caused a fire in the power plant in the city of Karaganda.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.