EMP! Electromagnetic pulse!?

Question

So I basically have to write a paper over Electromagnetic Pulse for Science.

I don't really know much about the subject so if someone could please give me some additional info. from personal knowledge or maybe a good website they found. (I do have wikipedia up for reference, but any other additional sites with very good detailed information) would be very appreciated.

please and thank you.

Answer 1

One of the first things to search for is (atomic bomb) as the EMP was a side effect of the first bombs that were created. This should give you a good start.
www.atomicarchive.com/Effects/effects21.shtml

Answer 2

Electromagnetic Pulse is just a short burst of Electromagnetic energy. Those most common are radio waves which are chopped up into short burst.
They are created by radio frequency transmitters.
A good example of that is radar. A short burst is transmitted then cut off then transmitted again over and over. The out put of the transmitter is short burst of Electromagnetic energy at the frequency (number of pulse per second) the radar is working on.

It is kind of like turning your light off and on at the house only at a much higher frequency (number of times per second) than you could ever do it by hand.

The way it is created is rather simple and straight forward: Anytime you have current flowing in a wire it is going to create a magnetic field around that wire so every time you turn something electrical on you will have a magnetic field being generated around that wire.

If the power applied is DC (direct current) the magnetic field will be constant. Like in the large Electro magnetics used in industry to lift heavy loads.

If the power applied is AC or in Pulses, the magnetic field will be constantly expanding and collapsing around that wire. This constantly expanding and collapsing of the magnetic field creates an electrical field around the wire as well. The electrical field combined with the magnetic field is where you get your electromagnetic field.

You can create Electromagnetic pulses by having a DC power source and turning it off and on rapidly.

A neat experiment that will show you what I am talking about is to get a common compass. Get someone to help you. Then go out to your car. Open the hood and local the positive battery cable. And put the compass next to the battery cable. then get the person helping you to start the car and turn it off several times in rapid succession while you hold the compass next to the positive battery cable. Each time they do you will see the needle in the compass move. That is due to the electromagnetic field forming wihen current is flowing. Each time they turn the car off and start it again you are creating an Electromagnetic pulse.

Another way to do that is if you have a switched outlet in your house for swag lamps and things like that. Plug a table light into it then get someone to turn the switch off and on real fast while you are holding the compass next to the cord while you watch the reaction of the compass needle.

How that helps you some.

Answer 3

You can do it with a large bank of capacitors (put them in parallel). Charge the capacitors, and run the current through a coil of wire (a few turns). The coil of wire will vaporize (or melt) but for a brief instant you will have a large electromagnetic field. BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL with this, as you can seriously hurt yourself (not due to the magnetic field - but due to the high voltages and currents you'll be dealing with) This wont be terribly powerful in terms of destroying electronics, but if you have instruments you can view the magnetic field. The military and other such organizations use an explosive device called a compression flux generator, but I doubt thats what you're looking for

Answer 4

Google "electromagnetic pluse" (with the "") this refines the search to that specific phrase.

Answer 5

The federation of american scientists (fas) has good references.
http://www.fas.org/nuke/intro/nuke/emp.htm

Here is their intro to TEMPEST
http://www.fas.org/nuke/intro/nuke/emp/toc.htm

Nuclear weapon effects on technology
http://www.fas.org/irp/threat/mctl98-2/p2sec06.pdf

The blackout bomb
http://sonic.net/~doretk/Issues/00-03-SPR/theblack.html

E-bombs
http://science.howstuffworks.com/e-bomb2.htm
http://science.howstuffworks.com/e-bomb.htm
http://science.howstuffworks.com/e-bomb3.htm
http://science.howstuffworks.com/e-bomb4.htm
wiki-ebombs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_bomb
http://www.milnet.com/e-bomb.htm

Global Security.org
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/1996/apjemp.htm
http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/report/1984/ERD.htm

Storming Media
http://www.stormingmedia.us/56/5619/A561982.html
http://www.stormingmedia.us/91/9141/A914111.html

NPR's Science Friday
http://www.sciencefriday.com/pages/2003/Mar/hour1_031403.html

Iran mulling ebomb terrorist attack on US
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=44017
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=43956
http://g2.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=748

Homeland security at texas A&M
http://homelandsecurity.tamu.edu/framework/threats/emp/nuclearweaponempeffects/
http://stinet.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA289165
http://stinet.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA144797
Us security
http://www.space.com/spacenews/archive04/emparch_082404.html


There is an interesting ORNL report on the effects of nuclear EMP's on nuclear power plants
ORNL-5029

Russian E-bombs supposedly for sale:
http://www.tfd.chalmers.se/~valeri/EMP.html
France has ebombs
http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/hticbm/articles/20060214.aspx

Testimony given before congress?
http://kyl.senate.gov/legis_center/subdocs/030805_pry.pdf

More links:
http://www.nti.org/h_learnmore/nuctutorial/chapter02_06.html
http://www.infowar.com/mil_c4i/mil_c4i8.html-ssi