Did the nuke they just blew cause an electromagnetic pulse and how much did it knock out in Asia?
Only exoatmospheric nukes produce the ‘civilization-killer’ wide area EMP. Has to do with X-rays exciting electrons at the edge of space that blast the earth over a broad area.
In other words, if ya don't nuke it from orbit, it's mostly just the Big Bang, heat and radiation that kills. EMP from a mid atmospheric detonation is line of sight and not nearly as damaging.
Read up on EMP please. What they did was detonated it underground to contain not only the explosion but also the radiation effects. EMP is a radiating pulse from a high altitude detonation at about 60 miles. EMP’s are evident in all nuclear explosions. It is the size of the explosion that determines the area affected under it. The difference between a nuclear and a hydrogen bomb is of prime importance to the immediate concern.
http://www.onesecondafter.com/
When I see discarded microwave ovens that are thrown out because they stop working, I pick them up because they can provide a safe for protecting spares for certain electronics like my vehicle computers and sensors that I can swap out to get my vehicles running again. I also keep a radio and old notebook in one.
“Did the nuke they just blew cause an electromagnetic pulse and how much did it knock out in Asia?”
No, but it would have done a pretty good job if it were detonated high above ground. Underground tests don’t generate an appreciable EMP pulse.
Underground nuclear blasts gave their EMP absorbed by the ground. Read up on EMP, on Wikipedia if nothing else, to learn more.
The large nuclear bomb they just blew up was about 1.6 Megaton, most certainly an enhanced two-stage bomb (a hydrogen bomb, though probably not “portable” but built and assembled in the dug-out tunnel they bored underground.
Because it was an underground nuclear blast, there was no above-ground pulse released high above ground that creates the EMP damage we discussing.
But, because it was a successful “test” of a hydrogen bomb, it brings North Korea much, much closer to being able to build a bomb that CAN be lifted into the atmosphere to create a wide-area EMP pulse that CAN damage many electronics.