What is an EMP and why should we care?

These are both good questions and both deserve good answers. Unfortunately, to correctly understand what an EMP is, you need to do a bit of reading. Links will be at the end of this posting.

What is an EMP?

EMP stands for Electro Magnetic Pulse (*1). It can be generated in a number of different ways, one is by a CME (Coronal Mass Ejection (*2)) from the sun, another is by the detonation of a nuclear weapon high in the Earth's atmosphere. A third way is by a Gamma Ray Burster (*3) that is within 8,000 light-years of the Earth and has its axis pointed at the Earth.

When a nuclear weapon is detonated it generates not only radiation, it also generates Gamma rays. This is a normal byproduct of such a detonation. But therein lies the problem.

Imagine the following scenario:

A Middle Eastern country attains both the knowledge and the money to build a nuclear weapon. These are then hidden aboard container ships bound for the United States. One arrives in Los Angeles, another in Baltimore, the third makes it into Detroit via the St. Lawrence Seaway.

The ones on the coasts get launched 200 miles into the Earth's atmosphere (and yes, a certain Middle Eastern country currently has this capability) where they detonate. The one in Detroit is also launched from the container ship.

At 200 miles, the Gamma rays create a disturbance known as the Compton Effect (*4). The effect is cumulative, sort of like a snowball being rolled and rolled until it's large enough to build the base of a snowman.

Everything that is electric gets fried. Resisters, capacitors, your computers, your car (pre-1965 vehicles might be OK but nothing past that date) everything electric gets fried.

That will, of course, bring down the power grid. Therein lies the other problem - our dependency on electricity.

You might think "OK...power's out for a while, no biggie. I've got a generator, fuel, and non-perishable foodstuffs, I'll be fine." Will you really? Exactly how long will your generator last on the fuel you've got ... and will it even work? Odds are, it might not.

Meanwhile, the food in your refrigerator spoils after several days, if your local water system is pump-fed you've got no water, and even then the wastewater treatment plant doesn't have electricity. (*5)

In 3 months, the United States is back in the Stone Age. 10% of her population is dead due to violence, the breakdown of law and order and diseases.

In one year, 90% of the U.S. population is dead. Those are the highlights. It gets much worse. (*6)

Our Government doesn't really seem to care about this threat; hell, they can't bring themselves to admit that Radical Jihadists want us dead. Remember the whitewash of the Pentagon's report on the Fort Hood mass-murder?

Instead of throwing massive amounts of money at the porkulus (aka the spendulus and the stimulus) or creating another entitlement program (Osama (er...OBAMA)Care) we should be using part of that money to harden our infrastructure. Try to get your Congressperson to admit to the problem - you'll be met with the 'deer in the headlights' look.

This really is a problem, a deadly serious problem that not many want to talk about. But it does exist and has the very real potential to kill 90% of the U.S. population after one year.

Links:

(*1) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electro-magnetic_pulse
a) Starfish Prime - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starfish_Prime
b) Soviet Test #184 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_K_Project
c) http://www.onesecondafter.com/pb/wp_d10e87d9/wp_d10e87d9.html

(*2) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronal_mass_ejection

(*3) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma-ray_burst
a) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GRB_970508
b) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GRB_990123
c) WR-104 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WR_104 NOTE: WR-104 is within 16 degrees of axis with the Earth. If WR-104 did go off and if it did produce a GRB and if it were directly on axis, nothing on Earth would survive. Not even bacteria.

(*4) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compton_effect

(*5) Discovery Channel Program "Perfect Disaster: Solar Storm"
a) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geomagnetic_storm
b) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_storm_of_1859
c) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_1989_geomagnetic_storm

(*6) Electromagnetic Pulse Attack - http://www.coasttocoastam.com/show/2009/11/27
a) Effects of Hiroshima - http://www.coasttocoastam.com/show/2010/01/30