what would happen if the US were to be attacked by an EMP?

Question

Would every electronic device stop working, or would it have had to be turned on during the attack? Also, any ideas what we would do?

Answer 1

10 years ago this would have been a serious problem. However - as unlikely as it may seem - cell phones have caused everybody to create better RF protection for all electronic devices.

It would still create a huge and expensive mess - but things will still work. The biggest issue woul be that an EMP pulse would knock all electrical power off line and it would take several days for all the transformers, and power plants to be inspected then brought back on line.

Answer 2

Most electronic devices would be shut down, almost all of them for a matter of fact. We would recover quite slowly. There would probably also be MASSIVE panic. Russia used EMP on a small country, however this country relied on the Internet for everything, including groceries. This small country crumbled at the use of the EMP, this happen earlier this year, however I cannot remember the name of the country. I am not quite sure on how they recovered.

Answer 3

this isn't something a terrorist organization could do with much success, you need to detonate a nuclear weapon at fairly highly altitude of megaton range

and the military is hardened for EMP

Answer 4

EMP would only affect the frequency range of 3.0 HZ....to 30.0 KHZ, but it would be one GIGANTIC headache

Answer 5

I 2nd Nick. Chips have existing since the mid 80's that can survice a blast.

Answer 6

What's an EMP?
Electro Magnetic Pulse?
Isn't the sun attacking us with different types of rays all the time?
Aren't electronic lightning bolts crashing down somewhere all the time?

I'm not going to spend my time worrying about it.
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Answer 7

We would be put back for awhile, more immigration, mass panic, riots, chaos..
Just to sum it up, it would suck for awhile..
And.. A war on a new front..