What do you think will be worse? An E.M.P. or a Nuclear bomb?

Question

E.M.P. can kill electronics FOREVER and its range is very very LONG

Nuclear is Destructive and radiation can kill thousands within its range

Answer 1

Nuclear weapons create an electromagnetic pulse..

Answer 2

Nuclear bomb. An EMP may fry electronics & write them off, but an EMP wave when spent - in a matter of seconds, will no longer be a danger to anything. Also. EMP are meant to kill electronics, not living things & the only fatalities will be caused by aircraft or vehicles failing & therefore crash.

A nuclear bomb will leave behind radiation which may take years to dissipate while in the meantime, causing acid rains, environmental pollution, cancer. Also, many modern nuclear warheads are at least 2 to 5 times more powerful than the ones dropped on Hiroshima & Nagasaki, therefore, more able to kill at least half a million people.

Answer 3

EMP only destroys electronic gear that is not shielded, or in use at the time of the pulse. Nuclear weapons cause EMP as well. While EMP would ruin most of our electronic infrastructure (banking, lights, telephones, internet, etc.) a nuclear device would kill thousands or more, make many more sick, and create a wasteland that would not be inhabitable for years. Further, the electronic infrastructure could be restored over a few years.

Therefore, a nuclear attack would be much worse, since the damage occurs to both.

Answer 4

You're kidding when you pose the two phenomena as exclusive to one another, right? A nuclear weapon produces an electromagnetic pulse. Read this:

http://www.fas.org/nuke/intro/nuke/emp.htm

EMP is not a "world-ender". Many critical systems are shielded from EMP, and its properties are entirely dependent on the altitude at which the detonation occurs. You make it sound as if an EMP blast is greater in both effect and consequences than that of a nuclear blast. Read the effects of Chernobyl for comparison:

http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2005/dev2539.doc.html

200,000 square km contaminated, 600,000 victims. EMP has nothing on fallout.

Answer 5

Really a nuclear attack is more worse then a emp blast. This is bcoz a nuclear explsion also produces a very very big emp radiation discharge. nuclear explosion causes a temp of some million degree in it. melting any thing in or near it. it destroys everything in a 35 km dia area. and above it the nuclear radiations go upto a very long distance destroying everything.
emp just bring down a black out nothing else. but nuclear bring everything out. got it.

Answer 6

A nuclear bomb. Electronics can be shielded, and replaced. Shielding can be done by wrapping the item, such as a radio in foil (any external connections should not touch foil) without any holes. This will shield the item from EM fields. I also doubt the very very long range, unless the pulse is caused by a nuke. I think I'll put my tin-foil hat on now, just in case. 8)

Answer 7

The only way that you night consider an EMP device worse is that since it does not have the long term poisioning of the land or killing people on a massive scale like a Nuke, it is more likely to be used.

Otherwise, a Nuke is definitely worse.

Answer 8

Lemme see the options.... obliteration from vaporization or my computer and appliances dont work no more..... hmmm, i pick the worse as the lack of eletcrical circuitry to run my computer...

A nuke does cause an EMP, however, as the person mentioned before, so they're not mutually exclusive. I just picked one over the other based on your question, not you knowledge about nuclear weaponry.

Answer 9

Emp is a result of a Hydrogen Nuclear explosions, the other being normal fission, so are you saying you'd be upset if your cell phone quit? Well, just turn the damn thing off before the explosions!

Answer 10

Hmmm. I think a nuke would be worse because the fallout could render some nice part of the world, such as the Hawaii, uninhabitable forever.

We could always make more Razrs and iPods, probably even recycle the dead ones.

Something your planning you maybe want to let us know about?

Answer 11

E.M.P. What else could be going on that would would have no clue about if an EMP happened?