EMP: what is it and how do you protect yourself?
EMP is a devastating effect that leaves little of your electronics, such as your telephone and home appliances. How do you protect yourself against that?
Nuclear test has another consequence
After Starfish Prime, a nuclear test 400 km high in the sky near Hawaii, electronic equipment burned through in the capital Honolulu, just under 1500 km away. 300 traffic lights broke down and a transmitting installation did not survive.
Then it became clear why. The nuclear explosion released enormous amounts of ionizing radiation. This radiation, the word says it all, tears atoms apart into electrons and the remainder, ions. The result: an avalanche of charged particles.
EMP: an avalanche of electrons
Atoms are electrically neutral, but electrons and ions are highly electrically charged. An iron law of nature says, moving charge always generates a magnetic field. And a changing magnetic field generates electric currents.
The nuclear explosion therefore created a strongly fluctuating magnetic field, which generated strong electric currents in the electronics of the residents of Honolulu. We now know this phenomenon as EMP, in full electromagnetic pulse. because electronics are much more sensitive than then, the consequences are now much more annoying.
How to protect yourself from EMP
Fortunately, there is a way to protect your electronics from this devastating effect. A metal box, known as a Faraday cage in electronics, keeps out all electric and magnetic fields. Inside this box, for example a large tin, metal box or homemade box made of a metal plate, your phone or other sensitive equipment is safe from EMP.
But watch out. A strong electric current is indeed generated in the metal of the box itself. So you have to make sure that your sensitive equipment does not touch the box, for example by wrapping it in kitchen paper or plastic before placing it in the box. Also, no point or wire should protrude from the box. That works as a transmitting antenna and then your dearly beloved smartphone is still the coil.
Long electrically conductive cables are especially sensitive to this effect. So to limit the damage from an EMP, it is best to disconnect all plugs from the socket beforehand. But the electricity network is also likely to be flat after a heavy EMP.
