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The late and deeply lamented Charles Sheffield wrote a pretty good book about the entire planet being whacked by just such an intense electomagnetic wave burst. It came from (iirc) a star whose nova(?) was aimed in our direction.

I read it several years ago so I'm fuzzy on the details. But what I remember is his interesting and detailed extrapolations. Older cars were suddenly very valuable since they had no computerized parts. Strange breakages happened like fridges, furnaces and gas logs--who knew how many things had delicate electronics built in?

There have been studies where? By whom? Did the DOD submit test samples ("Light fuse, run away") to Underwriters' Laboratories and the FDA?

I guess we'll be finding out about actual side-effects, starting, say, March 18.

Large numbers of hideous casualties could have very interesting political consequences, and maybe really big class-action lawsuits.

Edited by author 03-08-2003 06:29 PM
What is distressing and largely under covered about EMP, is its questionable effects on human physiology. There have been studies that being exposed to a single EMP bomb could render you insterile and permanently damage your nervous system. We are afterall dealing with very intense short-burst microwave radiation.

A harmless weapon this is not - its right up there with chemical weapons in its nastiness and brutality.

Wow . . . here's your chance to unload that Super 8mm cameras languashing in the attic, folks!

My family actually had a wind-up non-super 8mm camera. I made little animated films with it. A very cool toy.

What worries me is that electronic circuits don't always react predictably under electromagnetic interference. What happens if an EMP causes a missile launch (or chemical release)?

Sounds to me like the strobe-light equivalent of a microwave oven. High intesity, low duration. Like a karate chop.

The Defense Tech blog mentioned an article in the Wall Street Journal that the Pentagon was shying away from the e-bomb, because they "are concerned its use could alienate the Iraqi populace by crippling Baghdad's phone and electrical systems and, hence, the city's hospital and emergency-services infrastructure" and "because of the permanent nature of the damage it causes, it would significantly raise the financial cost of rebuilding Iraq's economy once a conflict is over", and "military and industry officials say the use of the experimental weapon could burn out electronics on U.S. military equipment in the vicinity". Regarding the last concern, "Electronic circuitry on most Air Force systems hasn't yet been redesigned to survive a concentrated onslaught of electromagnetic pulses, according to a February 2000 report by Air Force Col. Eileen Walling". And ""The U.S. doesn't want the rest of the world to get their hands on something that we're highly vulnerable to," says Loren Thompson, executive director of the Lexington Institute think tank based in Washington."

Considering that all an e-bomb is is a capacitor-powered, wire-coiled pipebomb that could be built under $400 dollars, and a small e-bomb can power a larger e-bomb in sequence, you can see why the military is concerned.

Not quite as harmless to humans as they suggest, apparently:

"Although not primarily an anti-personnel device, those who have been exposed to HPM report that its effect is agonising. The radiation penetrates below the skin, boiling nerve cells. It can blind. It induces uncontrollable panic (early research into HPM was as a crowd control agent)."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,896930,00.html

That?s incredible.