The E-Bomb (1 Viewer)

[Orcprocess]

About this talk about the dangers of nuclear weapons, I've thought of a possible solution - Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) warfare.

EMP's work by sending an intense dose of radio or microwave radiation around them. It's like a radio, the transmitter sends radio waves into the radius around them and are picked up by the radio. But, if the radio waves are highly intensified it can cause unfixable damage to the semi-conductor, and if it is even more intensified, it can do the same thing to power lines as well. This means that a big enough E-bomb would destroy the power grid for an entire city. With the power grid destroyed, an enemy has no electricity to power its factories, military units and government buildings. It would then have no source of equipment and so defeating their army should be relatively simple.

Tanks, ships and aircraft all rely on electricity, so they are unlikely to be available to them. Just a few ground forces with primitive weapons. E-bombs do not directly take lives - they are designed to stop machines from functioning. They can however kill civilians who are on life support, for example though. But, it's still better than killing everybody in the city.

The United States is said to have used a EMP weapons in the invasion of Iraq.

What does everybody else think? are EMP weapons worth researching/investing in?

 

[Goshin]

Upper-atmosphere nuclear weapons also produce EMP. Set one off about 230 miles above Omaha and you'll EMP almost all of North America: this is one of our great concerns about the spread of nukes and missle tech to "rogue nations" like NK and Iran.

Conventional EMP bombs either are being developed, or already have been, depending on who you ask.

There are methods of hardening electronics and power systems against EMP. Our military uses these methods to some degree. Our civilian power grid not really, no.

Most of our current enemies are not as dependent on electricity, electronics and high tech as we are, so EMP weapons would be more benefit to our enemies than to us, right now.


G.

 

[Orcprocess]

Most of our current enemies are not as dependent on electricity, electronics and high tech as we are, so EMP weapons would be more benefit to our enemies than to us, right now.

But the question of who is our enemy and who is our ally could change instantly. China and Russia use a lot of electricity and they aren't particularly our best of friends. Also, many bomb factories in Afganistan use electricity to run.

 

[Orion]

The issue is still delivery. It usually has to be introduced via aircraft because the high-yield devices are rather large. Someone won't be able to sneak an EMP into the U.S., for example, in their briefcase... not if they want to take out a city. The best defense against this kind of thing is to have a solid air defense network to prevent any kind of missile from delivering such a payload.

Most of the modern invasions launched by developed nations in the past 30 years have been against nations with inferior technology that largely rely on guerrilla tactics as defense. In other words, most modern wars have been conventional and fought between personnel on the ground.

The only time I'd imagine EMP being used on a larger scale would be if two developed powers were to engage one another in a protracted conflict.

 

[Orcprocess]

Yes, but it is perfectly possible for that to happen in the near future.

 

[Orion]

If it gets to the point where developed powers are willing to use EMP bombs against each other, then they'll also be at the point where they are willing to ignore nuclear deterrence, the concept of MAD, and will be launching nuclear weapons as well.

So in other words, I'm not alarmed about EMP weapons because the day I see them would probably be the day of the apocalypse anyway.

 

[UtahBill]

Use of such a weapon means the internet will be out of service, and there will be no porn available. So, I doubt anyone will be eager to use it.:2razz:

 

[Orcprocess]

Use of such a weapon means the internet will be out of service, and there will be no porn available. So, I doubt anyone will be eager to use it.:2razz:

Not exactly, they can still buy a porn magazine.

 

[Goshin]

The issue is still delivery. It usually has to be introduced via aircraft because the high-yield devices are rather large. Someone won't be able to sneak an EMP into the U.S., for example, in their briefcase... not if they want to take out a city. The best defense against this kind of thing is to have a solid air defense network to prevent any kind of missile from delivering such a payload.

Most of the modern invasions launched by developed nations in the past 30 years have been against nations with inferior technology that largely rely on guerrilla tactics as defense. In other words, most modern wars have been conventional and fought between personnel on the ground.

The only time I'd imagine EMP being used on a larger scale would be if two developed powers were to engage one another in a protracted conflict.

Yes... and no. There are high yield devices that can be put on a missle, and there is some debate about whether you actually need a very high-yield device anyway. Given some of the research I've heard about, a smaller "enhanced EMP" nuke is possible.

Imagine a merchant ship, a large container vessel, in the Gulf of Mexico. A hatch pops open and a large missle launches, much like our submarine missles. It quickly reaches an altitude we can't readily intercept, and detonates at 230 miles over middle America.

The entire power grid goes down, comms are knocked out for some time, there's plenty of chaos. Who did it? If the crew abandoned ship and scuttled immediately thereafter, would we know for sure?

The damage to our economy could be incalculable. It could take years and massive B$$$'s to restore the power grid. Someone might think it was worth it.

G.

 

[UtahBill]

Not exactly, they can still buy a porn magazine.

Given the quality of public schools nowadays, who is going to calculate change when all the electronic cash registers are fried? :2razz:

 

[Edify_Always_In_All_Ways]

Given the quality of public schools nowadays, who is going to calculate change when all the electronic cash registers are fried? :2razz:

That's what looting is for, silly. And abacuses (abaci?).

 

[Kernel Sanders]

Conventional EMP bombs either are being developed, or already have been, depending on who you ask.

EMP weapons are quite real, but currently there's almost never any reason to use an EMP weapon over a conventional explosive, and certainly not a good enough reason to justify the relative cost.

The way they work is cool enough that it's worth posting. Traditional EMP weapons have a coil of wires surrounded by a shaped charge. The explosion compresses the coil which induces current and throws out an EMP. The newer ones are better yet

Link

An alternative approach explored by the Army is a shockwave ferromagnetic generator. This is a magnet that blows up and spontaneously demagnetizes, releasing energy as a pulse of power. The effect is known as pressure-induced magnetic phase transition, and only occurs with some types of magnets in certain situations. In 2005, researchers from the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Research Development and Engineering Center (Amrdec), working with contractor Loki and scientists from Texas Tech University, demonstrated an explosive pulsed-power source based on neodymium alloy magnets, a type used in speakers and headphones.

Having proven that the principle works, the researchers moved on to more exotic lead zirconate titanate magnets. This enabled them to reduce the volume of the power generator from 50 cu. cm. (3 cu. in.) to 3 cu. cm., excluding explosives. Army requirements call for assembly of the power generator, power conditioning and aerial in a 1-in. space. Power output will be measured in hundreds of megawatts for microseconds.

The aerial needed to shape and direct the electromagnetic energy is an engineering challenge, due to the intense force of the explosion and the size required. Allen Stults of Amrdec is working on a “conducting aerosol plasma warhead.” A flame conducts electricity due to the presence of charged particles in it. By altering the chemical mixture of a fireball produced by an explosion, Stults aims to turn it into an electrically conductive aerial, a “plasma antenna.”

Basically, under some circumstances if you blow up a magnet it rapidly demagnetizes and throws out an EMP in the process. This can be made more effective by using the fire produced in the explosion as an antenna to channel the energy








... go science :mrgreen:

 

[SpotsCat]

About this talk about the dangers of nuclear weapons, I've thought of a possible solution - Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) warfare.

EMP's work by sending an intense dose of radio or microwave radiation around them. It's like a radio, the transmitter sends radio waves into the radius around them and are picked up by the radio. But, if the radio waves are highly intensified it can cause unfixable damage to the semi-conductor, and if it is even more intensified, it can do the same thing to power lines as well. This means that a big enough E-bomb would destroy the power grid for an entire city. With the power grid destroyed, an enemy has no electricity to power its factories, military units and government buildings. It would then have no source of equipment and so defeating their army should be relatively simple.

Tanks, ships and aircraft all rely on electricity, so they are unlikely to be available to them. Just a few ground forces with primitive weapons. E-bombs do not directly take lives - they are designed to stop machines from functioning. They can however kill civilians who are on life support, for example though. But, it's still better than killing everybody in the city.

The United States is said to have used a EMP weapons in the invasion of Iraq.

What does everybody else think? are EMP weapons worth researching/investing in?

Supposedly we are.

There is a project in Alaska called HAARP - High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program - which according to the book [ame=http://www.amazon.com/Angels-Dont-Play-This-Haarp/dp/0964881209/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1243472799&sr=1-2]"Angels Don't Play this HAARP: Advances in Tesla Technology"[/ame] can

• Disrupt human mental processes
• Jam all global communications systems
• Change weather patterns over large areas
• Interfere with wildlife migration patterns
• Negatively affect your health
• Unnaturally impact the Earth's upper atmosphere

Whether or not this is true is anyone's guess.

 

[Kernel Sanders]

Supposedly we are.

There is a project in Alaska called HAARP - High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program - which according to the book "Angels Don't Play this HAARP: Advances in Tesla Technology" can

• Disrupt human mental processes
• Jam all global communications systems
• Change weather patterns over large areas
• Interfere with wildlife migration patterns
• Negatively affect your health
• Unnaturally impact the Earth's upper atmosphere

Whether or not this is true is anyone's guess.

HAARP is a research program. Weaponizing any of what the program does is nowhere near feasible with today's technology. From wikipedia

Source [[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Frequency_Active_Auroral_Research_Program"]Wikipedia | High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program[/ame]]

During active ionospheric research, the signal generated by the transmitter system is delivered to the antenna array, transmitted in an upward direction, and is partially absorbed, at an altitude between 100 to 350 km (depending on operating frequency), in a small volume a few hundred meters thick and a few tens of kilometers in diameter over the site. The intensity of the HF signal in the ionosphere is less than 3 µW/cm², tens of thousands of times less than the Sun's natural electromagnetic radiation reaching the earth and hundreds of times less than even the normal random variations in intensity of the Sun's natural ultraviolet (UV) energy which creates the ionosphere. The small effects that are produced, however, can be observed with the sensitive scientific instruments installed at the HAARP facility and these observations can provide new information about the dynamics of plasmas and new insight into the processes of solar-terrestrial interactions.

Even producing effects as benign the aurora would take unimaginable amounts of energy. HAARP is to a weapon as examining a gram of radium with a Geiger counter is to a nuclear weapon

 

[SpotsCat]

HAARP is a research program. Weaponizing any of what the program does is nowhere near feasible with today's technology.

Maybe so.

Just remember... it was only twelve years between when physicist Leo Szilard first imagined a nuclear chain reaction, and the Trinity test in New Mexico.

 

[Kernel Sanders]

Maybe so.

Just remember... it was only twelve years between when physicist Leo Szilard first imagined a nuclear chain reaction, and the Trinity test in New Mexico.

The principles are nothing new. In order to weaponize them, however, would take energy on a scale such that there are any number of way cooler ways to kill a person. If you're talking beyond an extremely local scale, the things that affect the ionosphere are solar flares and gamma ray bursts and the like. HAARP has a lot of very interesting research going on, but it is not a weapon program

 

[Orcprocess]

Given the quality of public schools nowadays, who is going to calculate change when all the electronic cash registers are fried? :2razz:

They could buy one of those antique mechanical cash registers.

Or a mechanical calculator...

Not quite pocket-sized though,