gd double post grr.

 

lol happy someone said it also. Very odd thing to worry about. May as well ask how you can stop a meteorite from hitting your car... Yes solar flares happen but I don't recall it being strong enough to affect anyones cars... Mainly large power grids and comm satellites.

 

110% agree..

 

67Mustang302 -

Thank you. I learned a lot from your explanations. Very down to earth so even being an IT Geek i could understand.

Great write up!

 

I agree this is silly to worry about with your Mustang or any car. If we have a major EMP situation then we have a lot more to worry about than our cars. Like grabbing my AR's and my packs and heading for the boonies!!!

It is an interested discussion though.

 

I was going to suggest that there's nothing you can do to protect your car short of pulling all the electrical out and wrapping it in tin foil.

I was ALSO going to suggest not to mention my screen name to whatever therapist the court appoints you to if you were to do that.

And the sad truth is that it is becoming a larger and realistic concern for the Defense Dept. A report came out about a month and a half ago on Iran dealing specifically with this. They don't have sophisticated weapons and guidance enough to hit a US city accurately, but they were test launching short range ballistic missiles off modified freighters and detonating high altitude air bursts. That was one reason we need a missile defense shield, they believe they were practicing a possible nuclear weapon deployment OVER the US from a modified freighter to generate an EMP burst. It'd be the most effective weapon they have against us.

Could you imagine the impact that would have over say the east coast? The power grid going down for over 100 million people....no traffic lights, no a/c, no refrigeration, nearly every vehicle, plane and train shutting down. It would cripple the economy and create absolute chaos. And sadly there's really not much you can do about anything that's not properly shielded.

Still though, you are more likely to get hit by a semi truck than an EMP, so I wouldn't worry.

 

I too was in the military, in the Army, I was in Armor and Combat Engineering. In the Air Force, I was slotted for an missileir AFSC and was going to be stationed in Minot AFB. Nuclear EMP was one of the effects we studied.

I didn't follow through in the Air Force though, because my 5 year military commitment ended and I didn't re-up (I signed up for 5 active, 3 IRR, 8yrs total). And knowing the effects of EMP and ow it can make equipment useless, I knew from as long as 10yrs ago that EMP is a serious thing to consider.

When I got out of the military and went to school full time, several of my electrical engineering friends did a thesis on EMP weaponry and they experimented with creating EMP without the use of a nuclear detonation. Such required a conventional bomb to create the very high speed mechanical action to create a massive amount of EM flux by way of induction (this is stuff that I do not understand, but that is how they described it), and one the bomb explodes, the EMP is tremendous. The bomb itself is not meant to be a weapon, it is only a means needed to create such a large EMP.

They also experimented with much smaller devices capable of frying computers, televisions, and anything within several feet of the device. And this smaller EMP device does not require any kind of explosion to function.
Just some know-how on electronics and so forth, and literally any kid can make such an EMP device.

Here is a vid of such eggheads making a backyard EMP device. Granted, this is only toy grade, but with the proper scaling up of certain components, they could make EMP devices to screw up cars all over the highway.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wujJ-eyacWg

Imagine if these guys scaled up their device to emit no less than 100x the EMP energy and they set up shop on the side of a freeway. Every car that drives by while the EMP energy is being release will receive thousands of dollars worth of electrical damage. And that is assuming that they do not lose control of their vehicles as their engines spontaneously shut down and they lose power steering and power brakes to maintain control of their now free rolling cars continuing down the highway.

I know, I sound like some conspiracy dude, and yes, there are much more other things to kill you that does not require EMP devices (hell, more people die from car crashes each year than cancer!). It's just that I see that sooner or later bad guys will be making EMP devices with the intent to use them for harm, maybe even as weapons.

I guess my years in the military have made me paranoid this way, but it will not be long before some a$$hole gets a bug up his *** to make such weaponry.

 

Our society has become highly dependent on electronics, and it may be our downfall at some point. Dependency breeds weakness sometimes. It's nothing new really....go back thousands of years to Hannibal's seizure of the Roman Imperial Grain Depot at Cannae. It forced the Romans to send an army to fight him, because they were dependent on that grain to make it through the winter. He used it to draw them into a trap and destroy them.

Food, water, electronics....air travel, sea travel. On and on. Nations throughout history have always had Achilles heals, and their enemies try to exploit it. Ours is electronics. It has permeated every aspect of our lives. From communications, to medical, financial and so on.

Still though, even though we have weaknesses, I can sleep well at night knowing we have a nuclear arsenal large enough to destroy the world several times over.

 

its not your years in the military making you paranoid. i just separated from 4 years in the air force as an f15 avionics backshop tech on active duty and now i'm a reservist, and probably 25% or more of the members on this forum are serving, or have served, and none of us are worried about our car getting emp'd. i will tell you this much. before your car gets emp'd, someone will have spray painted it, ran into the back of it, side swiped it, stolen it, slashed the tires, shot out the windows, keyed it, or you will have wrecked it before it gets EMP'd.

someone may develope some stupid contraption like that and run around ****ing peoples **** up for fun. but the bottom line is this. it will cost more money to EMP shield your car (plus all the added weight) than it would cost to just replace the electronics that fry IF such an event ever does take place to your car. the odds of your car getting EMP'd are probably similar to you winning the lotto.

 

depending on your definition of destroy the world. if you mean completely destroy it, we do not. manswers on spike tv said even with USA and russia's arsenal combined there isnt enuff to completely destroy the world.