# EMP

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emp/630537>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [August 5, 2012, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emp/630537 "2012-08-05T19:35:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Imhotep32](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/47e85d/32.png) [@Imhotep32](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Imhotep32)\
**Post date:** [August 5, 2012, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emp/630537/1 "2012-08-05T19:35:54Z")

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Thanks for the piece on EMP. I don’t know why this subject seems to fly under the radar (so to speak) but I have long thought that a terrorist with the means to disrupt if not totally break down electronic communication (a dirty bomb 30,000 feet over Kansas, say) across much of the country could bring us to our knees. This is a prospect to regard with dread- and it probably wouldn’t be that hard to do- so I can only hope there are contingency plans in the works.

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**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\
**Post date:** [August 5, 2012, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emp/630537/2 "2012-08-05T22:12:32Z")

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It’s always a nice thing to link to the column you’re commenting on, just as a courtesy:

> **[Could an electromagnetic pulse disrupt civilization?](https://www.straightdope.com/21344151/could-an-electromagnetic-pulse-disrupt-civilization)**

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**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\
**Post date:** [August 5, 2012, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emp/630537/3 "2012-08-05T22:32:47Z")

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> [@Imhotep32](#):
>
> .. a terrorist with the means to disrupt if not totally break down electronic communication (a dirty bomb 30,000 feet over Kansas, say) …

A dirty bomb is incapable of producing any EMP effect.

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**Author:** ![Michael63129](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@Michael63129](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael63129)\
**Post date:** [August 5, 2012, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emp/630537/4 "2012-08-05T23:15:24Z")

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There was just a thread on EMP effects here:

> **[EMP, power systems and fuses](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=657653)**
>
> In today’s column about EMP it was noted that some things such as high-voltage transformers are not exactly stockpiled in abundance and that re-creating them would take some time. Would this delay bringing power systems back up after being damaged by...

If you look at the last post (mine), it is a link to a paper which talks about induced voltages in the order of 100 volts per kilometer, which will mainly damage power grids, likely the main target for any nuclear EMP attack (communications would of course go down with the grid but not off-grid communications, unless as I mentioned, a nuclear EMP is far stronger, by several orders of magnitude, than a solar storm EMP).

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**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\
**Post date:** [August 6, 2012, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emp/630537/5 "2012-08-06T16:04:09Z")

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As per my posts in the other thread. The result of an an entity blasting a powerful enough nuke at a high enough altitude to take out the electronics of a good size chunk of the US is called “World War 3”. That’s our contingency plan for that particular scenario. Sleep tight.