# If NASA announced that a massive solar flare was headed our way **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 1, 2015, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-nasa-announced-that-a-massive-solar-flare-was-headed-our-way/711489 "2015-02-01T03:49:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2015, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-nasa-announced-that-a-massive-solar-flare-was-headed-our-way/711489/1 "2015-02-01T03:49:34Z")
Could I use my oven as a Faraday Cage for my phone and laptop? ---
**Author:** ![Cabin\_Fever\_1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cabin_fever_1/32/2908_2.png) [@Cabin\_Fever\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabin_Fever_1)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2015, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-nasa-announced-that-a-massive-solar-flare-was-headed-our-way/711489/2 "2015-02-01T03:55:26Z")
No. We have at the most 8 minutes - although various satellites can transmit our doom ahead of time by seconds. In answer to your question: Yes. We are fucked, depending on the size of the flare. A Faraday cage will help. Possibly. Sorry for being facetious. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2015, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-nasa-announced-that-a-massive-solar-flare-was-headed-our-way/711489/3 "2015-02-01T04:10:18Z")
What about those on the night side of Earth when the flare arrives? ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2015, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-nasa-announced-that-a-massive-solar-flare-was-headed-our-way/711489/4 "2015-02-01T04:10:38Z")
> [@Cabin\_Fever](#): > > No. We have at the most 8 minutes - although various satellites can transmit our doom ahead of time by seconds. > > In answer to your question: Yes. We are fucked, depending on the size of the flare. > > A Faraday cage will help. Possibly. > > Sorry for being facetious. The charged particles in a Solar Flare move a lot slower than the speed of light. From Wikipedia: > [@](#): > > The flare ejects clouds of electrons, ions, and atoms through the corona of the sun into space. These clouds typically reach Earth a day or two after the event ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2015, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-nasa-announced-that-a-massive-solar-flare-was-headed-our-way/711489/5 "2015-02-01T04:15:37Z")
_Grabs Wayfarers_ ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2015, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-nasa-announced-that-a-massive-solar-flare-was-headed-our-way/711489/6 "2015-02-01T04:19:13Z")
The 1989 geomagnetic storm occurred 3 days after the flare that spawned the CME. [March 1989 geomagnetic storm - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_1989_geomagnetic_storm) The Carrington Event (1859) occurred only 17.6 hours after its flare, but it’s believed that’s because a flare a few days earlier cleared the way for it. [Carrington Event - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_storm_of_1859) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2015, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-nasa-announced-that-a-massive-solar-flare-was-headed-our-way/711489/7 "2015-02-01T04:57:14Z")
All you have to do is unplug them. Solar flares can wreak havok on large, connected systems like power grids, and they can do a number on satellites orbiting above the bulk of the Earth’s magnetic field, but an unconnected device at the surface won’t even notice. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Joker\_and\_the\_Thief](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e79b87/32.png) [@The\_Joker\_and\_the\_Thief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Joker_and_the_Thief)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2015, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-nasa-announced-that-a-massive-solar-flare-was-headed-our-way/711489/8 "2015-02-01T04:59:40Z")
What if I took [Habeed’s plan](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=747705) to its logical extreme and replaced all the furniture in my house with dishwashers and ovens, such that my electronics were already in place? Would that help? ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2015, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-nasa-announced-that-a-massive-solar-flare-was-headed-our-way/711489/9 "2015-02-01T06:19:07Z")
There seems to be a persistent myth that one of these massive solar flares would ruin every modern electronic device and computer system, that all new cars, computers, phones, etc will cease to function. When in reality the only vulnerable devices would be those that are powered up when the storm hits. It is theoretically possible for a massive flare to shut down a car that is running but it will have no effect at all upon one that is turned off. Same with phones and computers. Unless the circuits are energized they will work just fine once the threat has passed. The trick to survive this civilization destroying event is to just turn it off. No power, no problem. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2015, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-nasa-announced-that-a-massive-solar-flare-was-headed-our-way/711489/10 "2015-02-01T06:26:09Z")
What I want to know is, what will such a major solar flare do to _me?_ Should I crawl into my oven along with my cell phone, laptop, and CD player? ---
**Author:** ![BOOM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c4cdca/32.png) [@BOOM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BOOM)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2015, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-nasa-announced-that-a-massive-solar-flare-was-headed-our-way/711489/11 "2015-02-01T09:13:39Z")
Does it have to be NASA? ---
**Author:** ![Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ac8455/32.png) [@Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Your_Great_Darsh_Face)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2015, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-nasa-announced-that-a-massive-solar-flare-was-headed-our-way/711489/12 "2015-02-01T09:31:41Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > What about those on the night side of Earth when the flare arrives? They should get a hint if the Moon’s visible where they are, in which case they can run out and buy lots of emergency supplies to cart up to high ground (an upper storey of an earthquake-proof building would be ideal). Get plenty, don’t worry about passing bad cheques or running up your credit card as it won’t be important by the time the sun rises. Also make sure you alert your girlfriend and take the time to enjoy the last Irish coffee and hot fudge sundae in history. Tip generously. Possibly your descendants will one day colonise the other side of the world. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2015, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-nasa-announced-that-a-massive-solar-flare-was-headed-our-way/711489/13 "2015-02-01T14:03:25Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > All you have to do is unplug them. Solar flares can wreak havok on large, connected systems like power grids, and they can do a number on satellites orbiting above the bulk of the Earth’s magnetic field, but an unconnected device at the surface won’t even notice. A geomagnetic storm like the [1859 Carrington event](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_storm_of_1859)would not merely interfere with the internet or wireless devices etc. It would destroy the modern electrical power distribution grid. As in fry power lines long & local, power stations, transformers, communications etc. It would be the worst natural disaster the modern world could experience because it would destroy the entire electric power distribution grid. Which in turn would destroy the world’s communication infrastructure, which would destroy the financial infrastructure, which would cripple food distribution, which would cause mass panic, starvation, and total lawlessness. It would be like rolling back society 150 years overnight! Estimates say it would cost trillions, _ **that’s trillions** _, of dollars to repair and take a decade to complete. And that’s if we were lucky. More likely It would simply cause the end of modern civilization and we’d never recover. One such storm [missed us by a week in 2012.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_storm_of_2012) Bummer eh? ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2015, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-nasa-announced-that-a-massive-solar-flare-was-headed-our-way/711489/14 "2015-02-01T15:09:50Z")
> [@Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](#): > > They should get a hint if the Moon’s visible where they are, in which case they can run out and buy lots of emergency supplies to cart up to high ground (an upper storey of an earthquake-proof building would be ideal). Get plenty, don’t worry about passing bad cheques or running up your credit card as it won’t be important by the time the sun rises. Also make sure you alert your girlfriend and take the time to enjoy the last Irish coffee and hot fudge sundae in history. Tip generously. Possibly your descendants will one day colonise the other side of the world. Thank you Larry Niven! ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2015, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-nasa-announced-that-a-massive-solar-flare-was-headed-our-way/711489/15 "2015-02-01T15:22:06Z")
if you could, so what? Anything that would fry your phone, will toast the cellphone towers. ---
**Author:** ![boffking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/858c86/32.png) [@boffking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boffking)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2015, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-nasa-announced-that-a-massive-solar-flare-was-headed-our-way/711489/16 "2015-02-01T18:00:23Z")
> [@Cabin\_Fever](#): > > No. We have at the most 8 minutes - although various satellites can transmit our doom ahead of time by seconds. > > In answer to your question: Yes. We are fucked, depending on the size of the flare. > > A Faraday cage will help. Possibly. > > Sorry for being facetious. Our electronics are fucked, most of us will be fine. With the exception of people on life support, and anyone onboard an airplane when the flare hits, we will survive. ---
**Author:** ![Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ac8455/32.png) [@Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Your_Great_Darsh_Face)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2015, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-nasa-announced-that-a-massive-solar-flare-was-headed-our-way/711489/17 "2015-02-01T19:44:11Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Thank you Larry Niven! Hey, Jack Vance is good, but not to the exclusion of all else. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2015, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-nasa-announced-that-a-massive-solar-flare-was-headed-our-way/711489/18 "2015-02-01T20:40:47Z")
> [@boffking](#): > > Our electronics are fucked, most of us will be fine. With the exception of people on life support, and anyone onboard an airplane when the flare hits, we will survive. _Some_ of our electronics would be fucked, those that are on. People on life support will be fine with battery backup and generators. Most hospitals and other vital services have backup generators that kick in automatically. These will still work. The internal combustion engine will still power generators. Coal fired power plants will come back on line. The **infrastructure** to supply the power is what is most likely to be damaged, not the end user devices. The whole apocalyptic scenario is Hollywood Science. The Ontario outage event of 1989 from a geomagnetic storm was due to the long power lines being a better conduit for the charge than simply going to ground as it should. The current preferred the power grid to going to ground. > [@](#): > > The variations in the earth’s magnetic field also tripped circuit breakers on Hydro-Québec’s power grid. The utility’s very long transmission lines and the fact that most of Quebec sits on a large rock shield prevented current flowing through the earth, finding a less resistant path along the 735 kV power lines.[8] > **[March 1989 geomagnetic storm](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_1989_geomagnetic_storm)** > > The March 1989 geomagnetic storm occurred as part of severe to extreme solar storms during early to mid March 1989, the most notable being a geomagnetic storm that struck Earth on March 13. This geomagnetic storm caused a nine-hour outage of Hydro-Québec's electricity transmission system. The onset time was exceptionally rapid. Other historically significant solar storms occurred later in 1989, during a very active period of solar cycle 22. > The geomagnetic storm causing this event is believed to... One of the most serious problems with getting the power grid back up and functioning is the replacement time to get the blown transformers manufactured and installed. This is a serious issue and often delays the recovery from hurricanes and other weather events. But the end of all electronic devices, mass starvation, wide spread lawlessness and Mad Max scenarios are just silly. Gamers are going to have to find other things to do, business communication might have to revert to snail mail. I would call it 2-5 years of inconvenience before normality is restored to current levels. But the news media and Hollywood just loves a world ending disaster. It’s the end of the world as we know it, and we will be fine. ---
**Author:** ![DJ\_Motorbike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90ced4/32.png) [@DJ\_Motorbike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DJ_Motorbike)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2015, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-nasa-announced-that-a-massive-solar-flare-was-headed-our-way/711489/19 "2015-02-02T02:00:18Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > _Some_ of our electronics would be fucked, those that are on. People on life support will be fine with battery backup and generators. Most hospitals and other vital services have backup generators that kick in automatically. These will still work. The internal combustion engine will still power generators. Coal fired power plants will come back on line. The **infrastructure** to supply the power is what is most likely to be damaged, not the end user devices. > > The whole apocalyptic scenario is Hollywood Science. The Ontario outage event of 1989 from a geomagnetic storm was due to the long power lines being a better conduit for the charge than simply going to ground as it should. The current preferred the power grid to going to ground. > > [March 1989 geomagnetic storm - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_1989_geomagnetic_storm) > > One of the most serious problems with getting the power grid back up and functioning is the replacement time to get the blown transformers manufactured and installed. This is a serious issue and often delays the recovery from hurricanes and other weather events. > > But the end of all electronic devices, mass starvation, wide spread lawlessness and Mad Max scenarios are just silly. Gamers are going to have to find other things to do, business communication might have to revert to snail mail. > > I would call it 2-5 years of inconvenience before normality is restored to current levels. But the news media and Hollywood just loves a world ending disaster. > > It’s the end of the world as we know it, and we will be fine. No, we would not be fine. If the entire North American power grid suddenly went offline and every transformer from Maine to California suddenly blew out taking with it every computer network, cell tower, terrestrial radio and television station, cable television network, and whateverelse and wouldn’t be back for the forseeable future - possibly _years_. We wouldn’t be fine we would be proper fucked. Some cars might still run, but the electric/electronic pump at the gas station wouldn’t. It would be a nightmare Hollywood hasn’t dreamed. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2015, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-nasa-announced-that-a-massive-solar-flare-was-headed-our-way/711489/20 "2015-02-02T02:10:43Z")
> [@DJ\_Motorbike](#): > > No, we would not be fine. If the entire North American power grid suddenly went offline and every transformer from Maine to California suddenly blew out taking with it every computer network, cell tower, terrestrial radio and television station, cable television network, and whateverelse and wouldn’t be back for the forseeable future - possibly _years_. We wouldn’t be fine we would be proper fucked. > > Some cars might still run, but the electric/electronic pump at the gas station wouldn’t. It would be a nightmare Hollywood hasn’t dreamed. Yeah, but that’s never going to happen. The grid has protective devices to prevent most catastrophic failures. That’s why cascading power failures don’t ruin the grid, although they may take down large portions of it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-nasa-announced-that-a-massive-solar-flare-was-headed-our-way/711489.md?page=2)