Would a high-altitude nuclear blast over Kansas wipe out electronics for the continental US? How permanently? What effect would it have on engines and batteries? I saw an episode of Futureweapons that brought it up but didn't answer these questions.
2007-02-05 05:49:34 · 9 answers · asked by Axcalibar 1 in Politics & Government ➔ Military
There would be damage - but not as much as you think. Most consumer electronics have some element of hardening simply to prevent interference from all the cell phones etc. we use nowadays.
The biggest and most immediate effect would be that the commercial power systems would go down as the safety interlocks opened up and it would take a day or two the get all the power plants turned back on.
2007-02-05 07:34:45 · answer #1 · answered by MikeGolf 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Actually a small nuke going off in outer space over say, Cincinnati would completely destroy the power grid for most of the United States. It would fry most of the transformers in most of the power grid nationwide. What it did not fry it would still likely cause the others to go down just because of the following chaos. Electric plant workers would not show up for work out of either fear or not being able to get through the chaos. It would have a cascading effect on almost everything. There would be no electric. Because of that, there would be no gas, no water, no sewer, no refrigeration, no deliveries of anything. Why? Because electricity is needed to run gas pumps, which would stop all deliveries of EVERYTHING, food, more gas, medicine, everything. Electric runs water systems, sewer systems, & refrigeration. That results in thirst & starvation on massive scales. Not to mention disease, violence, & societal breakdown. Then there's the nuke plants meltdowns, like 100 of them. They can't just be shut down, the cooling system including the backup systems will not function, then they will melt down. Radiation will be widespread. Within 30 days about 100 million will be dead or dying. Within a year 70 to 90% of the population will be dead. This would be the end. ONE small nuke would do it. Can it be prevented? YES! Cost? 2 1/2 billion. WILL the government take this precaution? Well, just wait for the responses scoffing at this post, you will have your answer... they will range from it's impossible to I'm crazy, stupid, don't know what I'm talking about to well, it's possible but not likely. Well, it's possible, not likely. But so was 911. I prefer we do the things we can to prevent it, just in case. It's a cheap fix compared to what it would do. Also, every 80 or so years we get a solar EMP. Usually it's not bad. Sometimes it is, & it goes in cycles. The last one if it had happened today would have caused all the above, maybe worse. We are due for one now...
2016-05-24 18:42:53 · answer #2 · answered by Kimberly 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
All computer electronics would be destroyed. Thus your car if built after say 1980 would be dead as it needs a computer to run. The real damage is in the lost communications and information. your bank records gone. medical records gone. TV/radios dead. any thing with a computer chip is dead unless it is shielded like in some military equipment and satellites. the effect is permanent until you make new computers. this might be a problem as the computers that help make computers would be dead so we would have to import some. That's if we can get the lights back on.
2007-02-05 06:29:28 · answer #3 · answered by brian L 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Back to the stone age unless you have items that doesn't have a chip. Forget electricity and generators, forget driving and water. No phones nothing. Forget the two week emerency pack the red cross told you about, cause that will last a couple of day.
2007-02-05 06:15:06 · answer #4 · answered by Alex 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Depends on the size of the nuke and the altitude of the burst.
2007-02-05 06:07:08 · answer #5 · answered by RANDLE W 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, it would only be temporary. There are ways to protect your equipment from EMP. The government uses these methods to provide protection to infrastructure, and the military. It's called "hardening". Anything that's considered "hardened" is protected from EMP. Anything that's not hardened, would be considered a loss, unless it can be repaired. Engines would be repairable, batteries...not so much...
2007-02-05 06:37:04 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
It would damage solid-state circuits and wreak havoc.
It would take years to fix.
2007-02-05 05:56:15 · answer #7 · answered by American citizen and taxpayer 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Big time screwed. Unfortunately, I can say no more.
2007-02-05 06:22:46 · answer #8 · answered by Rob D 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
So...ummm.....what do you do for a living?
2007-02-05 06:00:57 · answer #9 · answered by gr8mindsthnkalike2 1 · 0⤊ 2⤋