[SoupRKnowva]

Quote:

If it happens in 2012, I might just end up shooting myself to avoid all this "we told you so" business from the true believers. Or just eat myself to death via delicious pancakes.

pancakes are love you know, so i dont think it would be so bad
 

 

[Samgotit]

Just let me know when I should begin to hunker. I've been slaming protein shakes, got my ham radio license, and I squat naked over a slender mirror for one hour every morning. Hunkering is not for the sendentary.

 

[logwed]

Quote:

If it happens in 2012, I might just end up shooting myself to avoid all this "we told you so" business from the true believers. Or just eat myself to death via waffles.

 
FTFY
 

 

[sanakaku]

Damn... so no zombie apocalypse for post apocalyptic? sheez 

 

[Pepsi]

So even if your gear isn't plugged in it's going to pretty much own everything?

 

[Landis]

Quote:

So even if your gear isn't plugged in it's going to pretty much own everything?

I don't know much about the electromatronical thingies, but I think capacitors and like bits store energy, so having massive amounts of electromagnetic energy blasted over the Earth would 'splode everything... Or implode, but probably explode because that would be worse and that Sun guy is an asshole. Technically, if you had something that was electromagnetic-energy-storm proof (lots of Patrick82-grade ERS paper) it would protect it.
 
Anywho, that's my understanding of it.

 

[Happy Camper]

My brother has begun selling 2012 survival kits.

 

[logwed]

Furreal? What does he include in them?

 

[Happy Camper]

I have no idea. I think I'll get the marketing pitch this weekend over a few.

 

[marvin]

     Quote:

A worldwide EMP would be devestating, but the article makes it sound more like a possibility than a probability.

Pretty much. A major coronal mass ejection that severely disrupts electronics on Earth is a possibility at any time, though more probable when solar activity is at its peak every 11 or so years. There's nothing that suggests that this cycle will be any more likely to produce a planet disrupting event than previous cycles.
 
Quote:

So even if your gear isn't plugged in it's going to pretty much own everything?

 
Maybe. No one's really sure, though government war gaming on the effects of an EMP attack indicates that power and communications will be out for anywhere between a few days and a few months, and food/fuel distribution would get a bit touchy for a while due to lack of comms.
 
Mechanism of damage is the change in the Earth's magnetic field will induce an electric field on the Earth's surface. That creates a voltage differential across any conductors in the electric field. The longer the conductor, the larger the voltage differential between the ends. Ex: PCB traces in iPod are short, differential will be small. Power lines are very long, differential will be very large. If the voltage differential is too high for the electronic device to survive, it stops working correctly. Ex: iPod = low tolerance. Power station = high tolerance.
 
Tube gear is lucky in this respect. Most of the wiring is short, and tubes can take much higher voltage differentials before they go poof. Course, just some spare tubes around in a metal container and you don't even have to worry about that.
 
Cars are also lucky in this respect. They're basically giant rolling Faraday cages and are mostly immune to even high strength (50kV/m) EM fields when not running. Not as great when running, but most will restart and function fine.

 

[SoupRKnowva]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/7923069/Nasa-scientists-braced-for-solar-tsunami-to-hit-earth.html
 
dont know if anyone else noticed that, but apaprently right now we have two coronal mass ejections commin straight at us, which doesnt happen very often at all.

 

[3602]

Quote:

dont know if anyone else noticed that, but apaprently right now we have two coronal mass ejections commin straight at us, which doesnt happen very often at all.

Oh yes, that one. Good thing I'm flying back to Quebec (if you really can't decode the coordinates in my Locaton) tomorrow so (hopefully) Continental wou't have to replicate the Hudson landing (water-ing?). Because of Geomag storms. In the Arctic.

 

 

[mechanix]

Would have prefer zombie apocalypse personally

 

 

[Deep Funk]

"Shaun Of The Dead"

 

[nolocus]

Any electrical/electronic engineers here wanna shed some light on this?  Are EMP's mostly a huge voltage surge or something?  Could see alot of IC's going down easily...easily fixable no?