Zone1 Can the US Survive an EMP Strike?

[Billy_Bob]

Good plan, but should be until the HARVEST time, not planting time......otherwise you starve while it's growing

At harvest time you get groups of people together to get the job done. they will have very little to do other that get that crop in..

 

[JustAnotherNut]

An EMP doesn't necessarily "melt" things, what it does is reverse the polarity of the electronics by short circuiting them with a power surge. Think about when you have a power surge in your house that damages some electronics (reason why most have surge protectors in their homes). The device doesn't melt, it just doesn't work anymore.

And, like I said, it doesn't really take a whole bunch of nukes to take out the whole US, it can be done with just one.

Some light reading on EMP's if you're interested, and yeah, it's some scary stuff, especially this part........................

https://doh.wa.gov/sites/default/files/legacy/Documents/Pubs/320-090_elecpuls_fs.pdf

A 1.4 Megaton bomb launched about 250 miles above Kansas would destroy most of the electronics that were not protected in the entire Continental United States. During the brief return to atmospheric testing in 1962, a 1.4 megaton nuclear weapon was detonated over Johnston Island at an altitude of about 250 miles. The effects of EMP were observed in Hawaii, 800 miles east of the detonation. Streetlights and fuses failed on Oahu and telephone service was disrupted on the Island of Kaua

So anyone with a pacemaker is toast.......

 

[Billy_Bob]

Actually, so am I. Was a member of the NBC teams on the ship (Nuclear, Biological and Chemical warfare), so I had to know about the effects of each and how to deal with it.

Was also a member of the PRP teams, where we loaded nukes onto aircraft, and also had to learn about nukes then. Lots of training from the Navy on that subject.

NBC/EOD US Army... I know the feeling... that was a very long time ago..

 

[ABikerSailor]

Most True Southerners know how to hunt,fish,grow a garden,can food for the winter and the like.
It's people who live in the city and have never been fishing or touched a gun let alone fired one that are going to be the first to die.
We have enough food to get us to the planting season and the heirloom seeds to plant so we should be fine.
Will it be pleasant? Not really but we could survive,we're talking about getting more food so we can make it to the second planting season in case the first seasons plantings fail for whatever reason.

It ain't just southerners that know about that stuff. Grew up in Montana, and didn't really know what store bought food was until I started living with a bunch of city folk types as a foster kid.

 

[Billy_Bob]

So anyone with a pacemaker is toast.......

Unfortunately, Yes. Unless the unit is shielded.

 

[ABikerSailor]

So anyone with a pacemaker is toast.......

Hate to say it, but basically, yeah. Unless they can manage to find shelter in a place that is hardened against EMP strikes.

 

[miketx]

Most of the old folks on meds would die. Then you'd have the rioting and looting and raping and pillaging. 90 percent dead after the first year.

 

[ABikerSailor]

Unfortunately, Yes. Unless the unit is shielded.

Hate to say it, but damn near all pacemakers aren't shielded. That's why there are warnings for people with them not to enter some places where things that could mess them are used.

 

[ABikerSailor]

Most of the old folks on meds would die. Then you'd have the rioting and looting and raping and pillaging. 90 percent dead after the first year.

Your estimate is a bit high. I'm guessing that we might lose 30 to 50 percent, but not much above that.

 

[konradv]

My point was an ICBM entering our territorial waters or air space would create a MAD response. Doing beyond our territorial waters, at altitude, would not generate that response but would cripple us. Its playing a game of high states craps... Much as we did during the Cold War...

What’s a MAD response? MAD was supposed to ensure there was no response.

 

[ABikerSailor]

What’s a MAD response? MAD was supposed to ensure there was no response.

Mutually Assured Destruction. It's supposed to prevent a nuke attack in the first place, but then again, you never know what could happen if you have a madman at the helm.

It's a modern day version of Mexican Standoff. We both have guns pointed at each other and will kill each other if someone fires a shot. That's enough to stop most people from firing, but you always have a nutcase somewhere in the mix that might think killing you is good enough, even if they die.

 

[konradv]

An EMP doesn't necessarily "melt" things, what it does is reverse the polarity of the electronics by short circuiting them with a power surge. Think about when you have a power surge in your house that damages some electronics (reason why most have surge protectors in their homes). The device doesn't melt, it just doesn't work anymore.

And, like I said, it doesn't really take a whole bunch of nukes to take out the whole US, it can be done with just one.

Some light reading on EMP's if you're interested, and yeah, it's some scary stuff, especially this part........................

https://doh.wa.gov/sites/default/files/legacy/Documents/Pubs/320-090_elecpuls_fs.pdf

A 1.4 Megaton bomb launched about 250 miles above Kansas would destroy most of the electronics that were not protected in the entire Continental United States. During the brief return to atmospheric testing in 1962, a 1.4 megaton nuclear weapon was detonated over Johnston Island at an altitude of about 250 miles. The effects of EMP were observed in Hawaii, 800 miles east of the detonation. Streetlights and fuses failed on Oahu and telephone service was disrupted on the Island of Kaua

That sounds more like it. Anything that could melt metal, wouldn’t be much good for flesh.

 

[Billy_Bob]

What’s a MAD response? MAD was supposed to ensure there was no response.

Mutually Assured Destruction. I think you can figure that out..

 

[konradv]

Mutually Assured Destruction. It's supposed to prevent a nuke attack in the first place, but then again, you never know what could happen if you have a madman at the helm.

It's a modern day version of Mexican Standoff. We both have guns pointed at each other and will kill each other if someone fires a shot. That's enough to stop most people from firing, but you always have a nutcase somewhere in the mix that might think killing you is good enough, even if they die.

I understand MAD. Mutually assured destruction was supposed to keep everyone from responding to provocations with nukes and it worked!

 

[ABikerSailor]

I understand MAD. Mutually assured destruction was supposed to keep everyone from responding to provocations with nukes and it worked!

Actually, the operative word there is "supposed to". Considering that Putin has already hinted that he might use nukes makes me wonder.

 

[toobfreak]

Can the US Survive an EMP Strike?

No. It will take nowhere near the level of melting transformers to achieve the goal. All you really need is an EMP enough to fry LV transistor circuits which control everything.

People made the mistake in designing and building our grid to not have any plan in action to harden and protect it despite being aware of the problem for a hundred years. We have literally built our entire infrastructure of operation which we depend on from communication to industry to banking that depends on frail machinery that can be taken out with an EMP of a few volts.

 

[JustAnotherNut]

So if an EMP were to happen from a nuke strike........wouldn't there be nuclear fallout? Making air, water & soil poisonous for a time??????

 

[toobfreak]

Enough heat to melt metal, but we’re going to survive?!?!

There is no "heat" involved, other than that induced in conductors by the induced electric current.

 

[ABikerSailor]

So if an EMP were to happen from a nuke strike........wouldn't there be nuclear fallout? Making air, water & soil poisonous for a time??????

EMP is just one of the effects of a nuke strike. Fallout is another (there's also the heat, shockwave, etc.). And no, you could detonate a nuke high enough in the atmosphere to have an effective EMP that takes out a lot of stuff without having the radiation and fallout that can go with it. What you're talking about is either a surface or subsurface burst, in which the radiation and fallout has an effect. But, like I said, nuclear explosions have several effects, of which EMP is just one.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

JustAnotherNut

Yeah I guess my wording was a bit off.