The magic EMP-proof box
Even though U.S. scientists have known about electromagnetic pulses for quite some time – and, in fact, intentionally created them in the late 1950s and early 1960s during the Cold War – it’s been more recently that EMPs have entered the conversation for ordinary Americans. There is rising concern that a rogue nation or terrorist organization could seriously disrupt our power grids by detonating a nuclear weapon high above the United States or setting off an e-bomb that could do much damage on a more local level.
So isn’t it strange that a device with the capability of blocking or at least significantly reducing the effects of an EMP was invented prior to the Civil War? That’s when English scientist Michael Faraday created a cage that blocked external static and non-static electric fields. This enclosure was formed by conducting material or by a mesh of such material. Its operation depends on the fact that an external static electrical field will cause the electric charges within the cage to redistribute themselves to cancel the field’s effects in the cage’s interior.
It may not be realistic to build a Faraday cage around a country, or even a neighborhood, for that matter. But within your home it could protect your most valuable electronic equipment, including computers, during an EMP attack. Check out this explanation to learn how this device can protect electronic equipment from lightening strikes and electrostatic discharges.
Have you ever used or tried to build a Faraday cage? If so, let me know about your experience with that. Do you think that the technology that goes into the creation of a Faraday cage could ever be used to protect larger areas from EMPs? And why isn’t the government using this information? Hope to hear from you.
Recommended Today
EMP Survival Guide: Did you know that defense experts are warning that this “weird” device could wipe out 280,000,000 Americans? In fact, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich wrote an op-ed piece recently for the Washington Post warning about the deadly threat from EMPs. I highly recommend you check out this video that reveals the #1 way you and your family can survive this deadly attack.
Israel has already hardened their grid against an EMP. I read it would take approximately 3 billion dollars to harden our grid. Shameful the gov. has not spent that paltry amount to harden our grid. They decided to give the money to social engineering projects instead.
In reading all this on EMP attacks from various entities, I find that unless one is wealthy enough for two of everything you want to “save” you might as well give up. I cannot run my computer, cell phone or anything else fast enough to the Faraday unit to save it. As I do not know when this will occur and doubt there will be much if any warning, my electronics would only be safe if I stored them in the cage and if I was blessed enough to have the EMP come when I was not using the items. Sorry to rain on your stuff but on my limited budget I need to be practical. Thanks for continuing to send information.
As an electronic technician and “ham” operator, I feel I need to weigh in on a couple issues.
I keep reading a TON about people saying “use a microwave oven” or “use an ammo can” for a faraday shield. TWO points need to be made:
1) CUT THE CORD off the microwave, or THAT will act as an antenna and conduct RF into the appliance, thus defeating your purpose.
2) Use a heavy copper braid strap physically and electrically connected between the ammo box lid and the box itself. The hinge is a very poor conductor of electricity, and the rubber seal is an insulator. The outer shield braid off some large diameter coax cable (anything 1/2″ dia or bigger) is perfect for this.
For ANY faraday shield to work, it MUST be continuous – i.e. the lid must be in electrical contact with the rest of the box AND there should be as few holes/cracks as possible. And any holes MUST be as small as possible – that’s why copper mesh screen actually works; the holes are quite small compared to the wavelengths of any RF energy involved.
I personally would go with NOT grounding the box – that SHOULD work – and most grounding schemes we could actually afford to do at home would have too high an impedance and could themselves become antennas. And a BUILDING’s ground system is designed to work at 60 Hz power line frequencies – NOT with RF frequencies up to the GHz range! So don’t even bother with that. Just leave your box ungrounded – that’s safer than a poor RF ground that more likely than not will act as an antenna.
Hope this clarifies some issues.
Well casing is one of the very best grounds. However, any ground can be overpowered by high energy electricity! We test high-energy electric fence ground
rods by leaning a few steel fence posts on the hot wire and then touching a ground rod while touch the ground with your other hand. You keep adding more
ground rods until you are no longer getting zapped!
I would say grounding a truly monstrous amount of energy would be impossible.
Can anyone answer me question ,solar and wind mill wires coming into my home to my panel of controllers and to my batteries ,i bought an wire mesh screen to wrap around my controllers will this protect me form an EMP or solar flare ?
FARADAY CAGES COST OVER $2,000.00. YOUR BATTERY’S WILL GET FRIED ERIC.BUY LOTS OF ALUMINUM FOIL. WRAP YOUR CELL PHONE, LAPTOPS YOUR PC. JUST DONT LET THEM TOUCH THE GROUND. YOUR CAR , YOU CAN GETA WOVEN METAL STRAP AND ATTACH IT TO THE ENGINE ON THE BOTTOM AND LET IT HIT THE GROUND. THAT WORKS LIKE THE STATIC WICKS ON AN AIRCRAFT. THEY DESPURSE LIGHTING STRIKES. THERE WORSE THAN AN EMP.
Hi, Eric;
Sorry, quick disconnects wont help a bit unless you can unplug them faster than light, and I really doubt it. It MIGHT help to use shielded wire like the RG-8 or RG-58 coax used by Ham radio operators for antennas – then run it through metal pipe, such as electrical EMT – and solidly ground ALL pipes & shields! Also, a grounded.metal screen like “Hardware cloth” over your photocells and ground the generator case. Keep all these grounds separate from the power wiring. Then keep your electronics in a grounded Faraday shield, and use EMP-rated lightning arrestors on all wiring going into the shielded area. This MAY provide protection against an EMP, but nobody can guarantee it.
Good luck & God Bless!
For maximum protection from EMP, using a Farady Shield, I would recommend one of fine mesh copper screen, and big enough for you, and your equipment. Then, to have access to antenna signals from the outside world would require an RF to optical converter, to get received signals through the screen optically (visible/invisible light, well above the risetime of EMP). But how to protect the converter? Hmmn…
You CANNOT block the EMP pulses except by thick lead which is very expensive and difficult to use. You CAN reroute the pulses around your equipment and prevent damage. Hard ground the copper screen (window screen works well) to a ground rod driven down at lest 6 feet (8 feet preferred).
You can wrap individual electronics in aluminum foil and hard ground it to the screen for double protection.
Um, lead has nothing to do with blocking EMP. EMP is blocked by material based on its ability to conduct electricity, not the ability to block radiation.
Faraday cages are currently build in all sizes. NSA and various military services have entire buildings that are Faraday cages. The biggest difficulty is properly filtering any incoming wiring to both reject (reflect back out) and absorb (dissipate) the unwanted RF energies from the EMP and still pass the desired signals and power. Also, every time the door is opened, the Faraday cage is ineffective, and the seals on the door will break down in time. The Faraday cages will work grounded or ungrounded. If ,however, you are using the Faraday cage as a working shield room where you will be working inside the room with powered devices, the Faraday cage MUST be grounded as the ungrounded Faraday cage could, and with most common power line filtering used would become a shock hazard as you are getting into and out of the Faraday cage. In this case the Faraday cage has to be grounded at a single point, preferably to an actual earth ground. If you are just storing your electronics, the Faraday cage can be left ungrounded. Please keep in mind that the ungrounded Faraday cage can develop a significant charge from static charging, dry wind blowing over it, and of course and EMP event. It would be a good idea to discharge it to earth ground prior to touching it.
Just because a particular shielding technique blocks weak radio waves (cellphone, etc.) surely does NOT mean that it will necessarily block a strong magnetic pulse. They really are two entirely different things. Broadcast radio waves, for example, cannot induce a current in a circuit. It is possible to design a shield which would accomplish both, but if the goal is to defend against an EMP, the Faraday cage is really the only way to go. In other words, just because a technique blocks radio waves, does NOT mean that it is a true Faraday cage in any sense that matters.
I had a thought this morning, a very cheap way to keep items safe from doom and gloom. I had a canister from a popcorn purchase, the ones the Boy Scouts used to sell each year. I put bubble wrap in the bottom & sides, then my cell phone…more bubble wrap on top, then put the lid on it. Instant EMP protection. I dialed my number from my land-line and it didn’t ring… it worked.
This is a small canister and doesn’t take up much room. It has a scenic picture on the outside, can’t tell that it is a place to put my phone in. I can put it on a shelf and nobody knows what it is. I’m sure you all have these or have had. You can get larger ones with popcorn it them at your local stores. Snacks and a free EMP protector. Cookie tins would work as well. Nobody will know but you.
Happy day to you all.
Save your burnt-out microwave ovens! Get them from neighbors. Pick them up at the curb.
They are designed to keep a lot of energy in the box, so surely they can keep it out. I keep things like inverters, radios, etc. in mine. A cheap tablet full of pdf files on various subjects is next.
I am familiar with EMP’s as well as the Faraday cage.
Interesting concept.
Thanks for sharing.
I will have to think about this.
We have all our eggs in one basket (three major grids) probably the most fragile and dangerous tipping point in America.
My question is ,I have a wind mill and solar panels with wires coming into the house connected to my controller’s and to my batteries ,if I build a screen around my electronics ,won’t the EMP come through the wires and take out my electronics ? if so what can I do ,have quick disconnects ?
Any help would be great
Thanks
Eric
It’s inexcusable that our own government will not back-up our grids the scientists have been warning them about for years. They say they can’t afford it, but I can’t imagine how we can’t afford it. The money spent overseas and military equipment could easily find the money for our grids. Not only the enemy attack but from outer space, as well. More asteroids are found flying past our earth all the time and it is a matter of time before one could hit. The ramifications of not protecting our grid are unimaginable. I guess the higher echelon think they can hide in their underground cities built with the American tax payers dollars and we are just collateral. This in my opinion is inexcusable and all our people should be involved and their voices heard. Hopefully, more people are taking an interest. Thank you for this opportunity to speak out.
Does an aluminum trash can work?
I live under high intensity power lines.They go across my property within 100 ft. of my house.Will these lines absorb the magnetic pulse waves????
foilback wallpaper and foilbacked insulation is gonna do the trick. r make a runn for the doctors offices xray room with your pc in one hand the tv in the other and the frig strapped to your back if your gonna be there a while in case of martian attack
Foil back wallpaper and insulation should be studied carefully if one intends to use these products in both room and exterior walls, since they will block the ability of moisture laden air (e.g., humidity) within the wall to dry out, which may lead to perpetual rot of studs/wall materials. Pressure differences between inside and outside (of house) cause humidity to slowly enter the interior of walls (right through the wall material), and are guestimated to permit about 1/2 cup of water per year into a wall. Unsealed Air leaks from electrical receptacles, pipes, etc. in walls can permit humidity accumulating up to 50 cups of moisture a year to enter walls. If this moisture cannot dry-out, it will rot out walls and/or cause severe mold problems. In southern states the difference between indoor Air conditioning temperature and outdoor heat is sufficient for wall interiors to reach dew point and condense, causing rot and mold. The same thing can happen in northern winter states were it may be 68 degrees F indoors and 0 degrees F outdoors. Houses and walls need to breathe to the inside of a home and to the outside of a home in order to dry out. Foil backed wallpaper in bathrooms has been known to rot out the walls of the bathroom. Rot and mold can develop quickly if wood studs and walls acquire a moisture level of 16%-20% from humidity or dew point condensation , or leaks from “above”. There is no gain to destroy a part of one’s home structure in order to try to prevent EMP damage. The rot/mold will develop faster than the potential EMP.
Reid you are totally correct except for one point. There are many ways to properly ground anything. I have built Faraday cages for IT and Cable companies to test their equipment in. We used a ground that only needed to be sunk about a foot although more is always better.The best kind of ground I know of is a grounding field. You use conductive metal strips or bars in a grid configuration and then encase it in a thin layer of concrete. Once that is done you bury it. I can’t remember the ohm reading you need for it to be effective but it is in any electrical code book. If you don’t get that ohm reading or lower you may need to make multiple grounding grids. Why would you want to do this you ask? Because it is able to ground out electricity at the kilo-jule and above range as fast as possible. Anything more than your ground can handle will either arc out and still destroy things and light fires. It may also destroy the integrity of your grounding system with power to spare which would still allow things to get fried. Swimming pool style grounding will also handle extreme electrical spikes and could be a viable faraday cage grounding system to connect to. Always remember to ohm check any grounding system as this will tell you how much electricity your ground can safely handle. The two systems I have mentioned are fairly inexpensive and can be made at home. There is a lot of information out there on how to do both and how to determine the ohm reading you need to have to reliably protect your stuff. I’m sorry I was long winded but I hope I point people in the right direction when combined with your info.
I guess my qstn/comment is what electronic items would you save for use after EMP?
Would a radio work when the radio station and power grid is down? Would a phone or computer work when there is no operable cell tower or Internet Provider or server service? (maybe as a file cabinet). Maybe there’s something worthwhile that is eluding me, but it seems relatively pointless…..???
Ham radios, walkie talkies and maybe satellite usage. Important to put your electronics in a faraday just in case. I’m putting an extra unused laptop in mine with music and photos…just in case.
You beat me to the punch, f,b&u. As far as the internet & communicating via it, we’ll be out of luck for decades or more in the event of an EMP attack or severe solar flare. No ISP & few, if any, others who protected their computers. The same fir cell phones.
Neal, above, has the right idea. He said, “I keep things like inverters, radios, etc. in mine (old microwave). A cheap tablet full of pdf files on various subjects is next.”
Besides the radio, a tablet computer with tons of survival information, medical treatments, etc. (AKA: Prepper Stuff) & a method to power the tablet (solar?) would be worth a million times its weight in gold!
I recently bought a protective case with built in solar recharger for my iPhone. Now, it’s time to find a cheap tablet & a solar charger for it!
There is a simple test to see if your farraday container is working.
turn on a battery operated transister radio,
tune it in to a station,
turn the Volume up,
place into your farraday box,
if box works there will not be any signal from the station geting to the radio.
D.D. Stiehm
Yes an old wicrowave will work despite it’s ‘window’! Look carefully at/into that window, you will see that it contains a screen. (Actually a perforated [metal] plate.) It allows you to see into but not let the microwaves out.
An EMP is a very short duration PULSE, containing many, many frequencies, most of them fairly short (high in frequency,) hence screening will work. Metal screening is good, in order of conductance ability: Gold, (expensive!) Silver (also expensive!) Copper, (good, also inexpensive, when compaired to the previous metals!) Aluminum (nearly as good as copper, also inexpensive.) and finally Iron (and Steel) ( also fairly inexpensive.)
Aluminum and steel can be obtained as sheets. Aluminum, copper and steel can be obtained as screening. Copper screening is somewhat more expensive than Aluminum and usually harder to find locally.
For CME’s, being from a more natural source, the “Pulse” is made up of longer wave radio frequencies so chicken wire Might work. I think that a better choice would be ‘hardware cloth.’
Hardware cloth can be gotten at local big box and many local hardware stores in 1/4″ and/or 1/2″ mesh (holes.) Hardware cloth is much stiffer than screening.
To use either screening or sheeting, any opening (doorway) must be bonded (a couple of jumpers across the pivot [hinge] side and a solid contact all the way around. (? Maybe use metal ‘V’ weatherstripping all the way around the door to make a good electrical connection?)
Inside, wood (treated to preserve it) to provide insulation/distance from the walls and make your shelving from.
Screening or hardware cloth is good for small areas, up to a room. Sheetmetal can be used for room sized or larger. Every joint must be almost a continuous bond.
Do Not Forget To GROUND the sheet metal or screening.
We have bought some of the FRS and GMRS radios which have a range of up to 36 miles line of sight, less range if hills or trees are in the way. In an EMP all cell phones shortwave land line telephones would be useless. We double insulate our radios putting them in an insulated metal box and put that box into an insulated metal safe. It would be nice to have communications with our neighbors if an EMP were to hit either by solar or nuclear.
If you live far from your loved ones you will probably lose communication with them in an EMP. If the EMP is widespread we lose the ability to plant, water and harvest our food. Forget about transporting it there would be nothing to transport.
We have purchased two man wood saws for making our firewood pile to keep our wood stove supplied in the event an EMP strikes
Unfortunately people who hate us and our way of living have access to making EMP enhanced nuclear weapons. I hate to say it but a nuclear generated EMP gives terrorists the most bang for the buck out of all the scenarios they can use for killing. One security briefing I saw says that only 10% of American would survive in an EMP attack. We would simply implode as a nation trying to find food enough to eat.
This is where putting in as large a garden as you can becomes very useful. If you live in the country and have your own well consider putting a hand pump on your well in addition to your electric pump. Let your trusted neighbors know it is there if they ever need it.
I have heard many ideas of how bad a situation An EMP attack could become. The scenarios are horrifying. There would be looting, gangs roaming the streets killing for food and so on. But lets remember the foundations of how this country was built. Build your food pile with the intent to share it with others if things get bad.
Bob M
Hi Frank,
I have heard two differing sides to the faraday box idea. One says that you have to ground it with a length of grounding that reaches your area’s water table and the other that says you do not have to ground it. Of course the faraday box or faraday cage is a metal enclosure to protect items inside from an EMP but the inside must be insulated from the outside metal ‘skin’ of the faraday box. Nothing you want protected inside a faraday box can be touching the metal outside of the box. Such insulation can be rubber, wood or whatever non-conducting material so that items inside the box does not touch the metal skin of the cage. Such things as a micro wave with its window would be a poor choice for a faraday box, but a washing machine, dryer or a refrigerator would be OK because of their exterior metal skin.
I have also heard that EMP waves are long waves not short waves. The long waves of an EMP would therefore not penetrate something like chicken wire. If you had enough chicken wire you could completely enclose say a car.
Either way on the grounding I have double faraday boxes for my zip drives. I insulated a small metal box put the zip drives into it and put them into a metal safe. Double your protection.
The problem with the differing ideas about faraday boxes is that most of the information about EMPs is classified military information. So we don’t really know the info except from an electronics expert and even then they can only speculate on the information that the military has and how to protect from it.
And if you are trusting in a surge protector forget about it even the best surge protector is no match for an EMP. Then there is the resulting fires that an EMP could cause. electrical fires could easily result from an EMP. Imagine fire coming out of each outlet in your home. Remember the story goes that while Carrington may have observed that massive solar flare in 1859 there were telegraph stations that sparked and started fires on desktop papers where the telegraph tappers were located. imagine how many fires may occur in a city when an EMP hits.
I know that this is fear based info but maybe fear is a motivator for change and preparedness.
Bob M
I was told an old non-working microwave oven makes for a great faraday cage for smaller electronics. Is this accurate??
We have known the effects of EMP for over 20 years. “We” I mean the holders of Amateur Radio licenses, and participants in the Military Auxilary Radio System. A strong EMP device detonated at more than 200 miles above the Central U.S. can and will disable anything with a transistor, or diode. That means the power grid we all depend upon, and every piece of electronic gear you or your town, county, state, or Country uses from coast to coast. Anything that is not rated as EMP protected will be useless to you. Only vacuum tube operated equipment that has no transistors, diodes, or integrated circuits in them will be usable.
If you put necessary receivers, entertainment, or communications gear into a steel box that has a tight lid, then cover the seams with adhesive aluminum tape, then that gear will survive the attack. A new aluminum or steel garbage can sealed the same way will work. DO NOT ground the box or can to an earth ground, or have it attached to any metallic object. Having it stand on concrete, wood, or a piece of dry plywood will isolate it very well. ALWAYS make sure you wait at least 24 hours before you unseal your communications gear in case of further attacks. If you want a very good example of what will ensue after an EMP attack, read the book “One Second After”, by William Forstchen. The Author has it VERY right. I keep two sets of everything in my “Faraday Cage”, so I can unseal it once to get only the necessary gear out, then if attacked again several days or weeks later, I still will have spares sealed away.
BTW David, wavelength has nothing to do with EMP. The EMP tests in the 50′s covered the whole radio spectrum from VLF into the Gigahertz range. Some EMP tests were enough to melt generators, transmission lines, and power transformers to slag. Radio transmitters, receivers or transceivers inside bunkers almost melted due to the heat created by the transistor/diode operated power supplies in them (PASS transistors and diode rectifiers, or the new switch mode power supplies?).
I wish you Luck!
I have studied this EMP situation for a while and asked many people in the know….one man told me that unless your conductor (ie wire) was 200 feet in length, no problem. I’m a ham radio operator and worried about EMP energy wiping out my equipment completely! The wavelength figure is crucial to this equation. If my radio equipment only uses cable lengths less than 200ft…am I safe?
I always disconnect the antenna cables each day after transmitting, and I do understand that the grid would be down…most power lines are over 200 ft…battery back up with solar panel charging batteries..the only way to stay ‘alive” after EMP that China, North Korea, Iran, or a host of rouge nations, states, religions will use to cripple, put the USA back into the early 1880s in a flash. What skills do you and your family posses to keep you alive after this attack? PREPARATION!
Of course the government knows about EMP and Faraday Cages. Their protection devices are called “Submarines”
Any wire will allow EMP pulse to enter a faraday cage, unless it is protect. Which will take a lot, voltage and many frequency clamps.
If you protect cell phone, pc, etc how says that what the connect with will be working.
Best is to put battery radio, batteries, solar cell, charger, inverter, in a well grounded box for if needed.
This is from the Survivalistblog.net and is pretty informative
EMP, CME, Grounding, and the Faraday Cage.
by Guest Blogger on January 3, 2013 · 112 comments
This guest post by blogRot and entry in our non-fiction writing contest.
This is a bubba-fied explanation of what it is, what it does, and how to build an effective one. If you’re going to cite this as a source in your college research paper, you’re nuts.
Electromagnetic Pulse (aka EMP) or a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) from our sun produce high powered electromagnetic ‘rays’ that are very damaging to electrical and electronics based equipment.
Rubbing your bare feet across the carpet generates a significant electro static potential that you feel when you then touch something metal like a door handle – that spark is a discharge of roughly 4,000 volts to 35,000 volts. Lightning cracks across the sky are 10,000 volts and more . YES, the voltages created from you rubbing your feet and lightning is roughly the same but there is an ‘umph’ factor behind the voltages that I could explain but do not want to have anyone’s eyes cross. Ever tried to heat up some Earl Grey with your DW’s gold trim porcelain tea cups in the microwave? Did you notice the fireworks from that boneheaded move? For comparison EMP is both similar and different to the above but much more powerful the closer to ground zero one is, and CME could not only be up to EMP powerful but is also sustained – the Earth could be in the sun’s blast zone for hours or days whilst an EMP burst is miliseconds. EMP from a nuclear detonation can still be higher than 100,000 volts hundreds of miles away.
What this electromagnetic energy does is to create (‘induce’) energy potential (voltage) in equipment even when it is not plugged in. This is bad, as not only is this not controlled (like plugging something in backwards the energy doesn’t go in the correct pathways and it burns up) but also that that energy could very easily exceed tolerances of the components of the equipment – something as low as 30V inducement could irreparably damage electronics. And electronics are everywhere, and are needed for/included in electrical systems like your car, generators, central air conditioners, etc. If that electronic control goes kaput it is hard if not impossible to get that electrical system it controls/manages to work. Furthermore, susceptibility of electronic memory components needs to be considered: even if the electronic memory component physically survives the inducement there is a strong chance that the critical programming codes it contains may be altered enough to ‘break’ it! Your Kindle or laptop may survive undamaged but the software it needs to power up and run would be corrupted enough to make it useless and its data irretrievable.
To be honest, until there is a detailed study of a modern day nuclear detonation near a population center I do not believe the magnitude of EMP effects are truly understood, anticipated or expected – I can only fantasize about what the results are and believed that most experts just don’t know every cause-and-effect nor the true extent of the damage (the good-stuff data is Classified). Yeah, there was Project Starfish Prime in Hawaii, but that was more of an incidental byproduct and not specifically set up to be monitored – “uugh… Honolulu just called and said their streetlights all went out; did we just do that? Yes, but let’s call it part of a study so Congress will fund it. Ka-ching!” I do recognize EMPs and CME events as being catastrophic no matter what.
So how does one protect his precious ham radio, her dc/ac inverter, or their computer from these high energy discharge events? While some special equipment can be ‘hardened’ by design the chances of you acquiring this military-grade engineering or old-school manufacturing is not expected. Automobiles and airplanes used to be made without electronics; today nearly everything is and today’s products are soundly engineered using the least amount of material necessary in its construction. Great for cost savings, but no wiggle room for extra capacity. Grandpa’s wire wound antenna I inherited in his vacuum-tube based radio weighs more than my entertainment center – this is the old-school manufacturing that I am referring to. The wiring in those old electrical systems would be considered over-engineered in today’s standards; they were bigger back then and those bigger wires can conduct more power through them before overheating and burning out. Hardening and modern RF shielding is a whole ‘nuther bag of beans topic-wise, and this is just a brief snippet to show contrast to the other option.
…and that other option is to Shield it. There is a reason UFO nutters wear tinfoil hats – it is actually sound physics in shielding from electrical waves; however, unless it is properly Grounded then it is useless. So do you truly know what ‘grounding’ is?
Earth ground is special in that it is ASSUMED to be able to absorb an unlimited amount of Current without changing its potential (Voltage). Another way of saying it is that earth ground is always ASSUMED to have zero volts, no matter how much current/power it is subjected to. Electromagnetic radiation continues to propagate until dissipated through earth ground… err… it travels until stopped by the earth.
Let us assume the equipment is plugged into the wall outlet and is exposed to EMP. This means that is being zapped and induced with ~100,000 volts of energy, more than likely turning whatever was plugged in into a heavy paperweight. Light bulbs will explode, electronics will pop n fizzle, and if it was already running then it may catch fire. Not to mention that the power lines are already saturated with its own induced energy, causing further mayhem and destruction. “But I had it turned OFF” you say; well, unfortunately most On/Off switches only opens one leg of the circuit loop so that induced power will flow through the ‘neutral’ just like if it was running (and destroying it) or it will flow at the speed of light through the ‘hot’ and then to another piece of equipment you have running and THEN back to earth ground. It still go ‘poof’. Or it may even arc the distance across the leads of the On/Off switch. Multiply this effect by all of the items you have plugged into the walls of your house, then all of the houses tied in to your electrical grid. Many, many ‘poofs’. Even if the mains breaker on your house trips you’re still left with 100,000v inducement in the house wiring.
“So just leaving it unplugged will protect it, right,” you ask? Not really. Let us say you’ve got a nice 1000W dc inverter tucked away on a shelf. It will still get zapped by 100,000 volts, but that induced energy potential doesn’t go anywhere until that energy potential is great enough to overcome the resistance of air(!) to get to Ground. And since we know from the paragraphs waaaay up there at the beginning that lighting can arc through air at somewhere around 10,000, we’re still turning that nice 1000W inverter into a paperweight as that induced energy somehow, someway discharges itself to ground. Or it might not immediately, and stay at 100,000 volts potential; but then you touch it… ouch, or plug it in.. ‘poof’.
“But I want my eyes even further crossed – what else you got?” You are masochistic, my friend. Let us continue to Shielding.
Electromagnetic radiation wants to go to earth Ground – it is its destiny, that’s its sole purpose in the universe, its feelings would be hurt if it couldn’t. To protect equipment we either need to “hide” it ten feet or more underground or “shield” it before the energy waves find it. Hiding doesn’t mean putting it in the basement or the storm cellar – you need at least ten feet of earth above your abode; we’re talking underground bunkers here. By surrounding it with – but not touching – a grounded conductive enclosure the electromagnetic waves and/or static discharges are harmlessly shunted around the sides of the enclosure. Some dead dude name Benjamin Franklin (I’ve never heard of him either) noted as the discoverer of this but some other dead dude named Faraday codified it, thusly the Faraday Cage.
Almost anything can be made in to an effective faraday cage, provided it is:
conductive (“Yay!” screams the tinfoil hat crowd),
properly Earth Grounded (“Hissss!” boos the tinfoils),
adequately surrounds whatever is trying to be enclosed (“Hey, we need to breathe yo!” the tinfoils’ excuse is),
whatever is inside is sufficiently insulated from this cage. (“I got nothing.” Me either.)
Microwave ovens are designed and built as faraday cages and continue to function as such even if it doesn’t work anymore. Ever loose cell phone reception in an elevator? That is the faraday cage effect my friend. A grounded safe or vault. Properly grounded tinfoil around a box. You can use a military surplus ammunition can, drill and tap a hole, screw in a lugged ground wire and clip it to the metal shelf support next to the other ammunition cans you’re using as such, and tie that shelf into earth ground.
“But what about using bird cages, chicken wire, and/or DW’s heirloom spaghetti strainer bowl?” Depends, and this is where the lack of public information comes in to play. The spacing of the electromagnetic permeable conduits acts as a wave-guide of sorts and determines what frequency of electromagnetic radiation is rejected, attenuated or passed. WAIT- Please don’t leave, I didn’t mean to get too technical! Think of an EMP burst as a golf ball passing through a faraday minefield of putting holes of different sizes – too small a hole and the ball will roll over it and too big a hole the ball will bounce out and continue on. Complicate that further by not knowing what size of the golf ball is to begin with. So it might just be that the hole spacing in a bird cage and chicken wire won’t be able shield out enough of the EMP. I can’t say for sure that these materials would be 100% effective against EMP or CME events, but something is better than nothing and this something is *significant*. I use chicken wire over certain things I’ve got in the shed; if you think the holes are too widely spaced then add another wrap around it. There is no Prepper Law that says you can’t have DW’s spaghetti strainer covered by chicken wire over a bird cage. Solid cage is best, next is the smaller the spacing of the holes the better off you are. Just make sure whatever you use is properly grounded to earth ground.
“So what does properly earth grounded mean?” A good earth ground is a conductive rod that is driven into the ground 10 feet or so – and the depth is dependent on where the damp earth starts; Texas building code is 10 feet so that’s what I stuck to. The licensed electricians I work with say some houses have copper plumbing that acts as the earth ground. The shield has to be connected to it and you need to make sure the grounding wire is thick enough to handle the ‘funneled’ energy (if you’re covering an entire safe room then tiny 24ga speaker wire will not be sufficient – use a battery jumper cable) and makes a good, solid contact to whatever earth ground you are using as well as the shielding material.
“Properly insulated?” If the equipment you want to shield is actually touching the cage then there is a conductive path for the energy burst to follow that could compromise your equipment; it becomes part of the shield therefore it is fully exposed. Put that inverter in a cardboard box, wrap it in a garbage bag, then put it in that properly grounded junky microwave. Throw in a desiccant bag for good measure.
“’Conductive’; you keep using this word. I do not think it means what you think it means.” Copper is the best common material that conducts electricity and the higher the content of the copper in the conductor the better it does that job. Aluminum (probably the worst), steel, brass, tinfoil and other commonly available alloys do work but are not as efficient as copper. But those *do* work as conductors, so don’t disregard them if that’s what you’ve got available.
EMP or CME related puns welcome in the comments; I enjoy electrifying conversations. (<- see what I did there? Hah! I kill me!)
Store your backup radio, etc in a ammo box. If you have land, store your power tools in a cargo container instead of a shed. Then wear tin foil on your head. lol
Hello, I was wondering why a person cant just use a metal garbage can for small electronic devices, I don’t understand why we have to spend a Lot of $ to have a Faraday cage…
I use an old microwave and it was free
I have a pacemaker. How will an EMP effect it? How do I protect myself?
Why wouldn’t a simple metal locker like we used in high school or at the gym work?
I’ve heard that a problem from EMP can also come from solar flares. This year there’s supposed to be some serious solar flare activity, part of a cycle in the sun’s activities. Last time this cycle happened it knocked out the telegraph system. Now we have even more electronics than then. So, foreign countries aren’t our only possible source of problems from this. Good to be as prepared as possible. So, a metal storge shed wouldn’t be sufficient to deflect an EMP? It has to be copper mesh? Reminds me of the movie “Enemy of the State”.
I was wondering if a large gun safe would act as a Faraday cage for its contents?
Thanks,
I wrapped my house in a radiative barrier that keeps the bricks from radiating heat inside. However, this metallic Mylar film also acts as a Faraday cage. One item to note, is that I can not get phone calls inside the house unless my phone is by a window. It also has protected my house electronics from 3 lightning strikes. This is not a plug for this specific product, but to give the idea that any continuous house wrap that is metallic, is in essence a Faraday cage. By the way, the wrap is about R-19 for radiation and very useful for housing in hot locations trying to keep as much heat out as possible. I am not sure it would be a good fit for cold climates. It also works much better with an airspace to allow the radiated heat to escape..such as in brick facade construction, or siding with vertical nailing slats.
http://www.radiantbarrier.com/house-wrap.htm
which will hit first ? emp or econocrash ? econocrash is when the public loses confidence in the dollar..when.treasury sec jack lew has admitted that treasury can no longer redeem the u s bonds it sells to acquire spending cash…when bond face amount redemption and interest payments stop , there will be devaluation worse than 1929..by far..
the debt treasury owes and we pay on with federal taxes is 16 trillion ..that would reach past saturn
who caused the debt ? the fake central bank aka the fed ; the federal reserve bank owned by bankstard families is ripping us profoundly ..end the fed …
In 1996 I worked on a construction project for the development of the F-22 Stealth Fighter. Two of the structures we built had for paint on the interior walls a layer that was copper and a percentage of 99.9% pure silver. We were told that this was just like the coating inside a microwave oven to contain radiation, but in this case was to shield the building from spy satellites. The ceiling and walls were painted with this paint, and a conductivity test was administered for quality control. I know wonder if this was also in preparation for EMP’s as well as to shield from spy satellites.
So I am just wondering—maybe put your laptop in your microwave to keep it safe??
Faraday cages are used by testing laboratorys at various facilities all over the U.S.. I visited one in Ohio during a test of capacitance units being added to our Air Conditioning equipment. These units were primarily to reduce or eliminate radio interference from the motors and fan blades in our equipment. The large room size cage was made of solid copper screening and very effectively prevented outside electromagnetic interference from causing problems with the sensitive instrumentation needed for the necessary readings.
Really interesting. I have known nothing about the EMP.
Farady cages are in use in some manufacturing facilities. One that comes into mind is located at Springs Mfg., in I think, Senatobia, MS. Springs manufactures polyvinyl shower curtains and part of the process is high voltage static welding processes to hem the top section of curtain to the curtain body. It is a rather sizable cage that encloses the welding production floor area of at least 2000 sq. ft. The frame works are wooden studding and roof supports, reinforced with metal square tubing.
The frame is covered with with wire mesh screening and the cage is grounded to earth ground.
From what I understand, this was a requirement of the FAA , since the subject facility was located in an approach and take off path for airplane traffic. To test the effectiveness of the cage, one would go into the protected (cage enclosure) area with a florescent tube and it would light up, the light become more intense when it was in very close proximity to the welding equipment.
Then the same testing was done outside of the caged area with the florescent tube to determine
no static integrity = no light.
Entry into the cage was through screen doors at quite a few locations. Entry was based upon and “airlock” design; Open enter, close door, open enter close door to maintain cage integrity.
Just one more tool of the New World Order. they will not be effected n thier underground cities. They can now even chnage the weather with thier HARP system. You would think that the 6.5 Billion people that are targeted for extention would be interested in stopping them. But no watchin TV is paramount. And of course the 6p news.
Faraday cages do not have to be made from copper. Shielded cabling has a woven mesh around it to protect from induced signals where they are not wanted. A “pulse” is a single burst, not a sine wave, therefore resonance and frequency from standing “waves” is, to say the least, Very Unlikely. If one goes to the store to buy metal wire mesh that can cover their more valuable equipment and doesn’t forget to “ground” each cage, (the round hole in your electrical outlet should go straight to ground and a soldered connection to that ground hole is made) the risk can be mitigated depending on the strength of the pulse. I spent a good amount on time in the Space Program as a contractor and was on the lightning protection team. We spent millions of dollars investigating “pulsed” strikes.
I’ve worked extensively with Faraday cages in the course of my work as an electronics engineer. They are very expensive to make (copper) and any leaks (power input, doors) can make them ineffective in stopping electromagnet waves.They can also be problematic at certain frequencies due to resonance and standing waves.
50 million dead in the first week, 280 million (minimum) at the end of one year. That could be why we are not mention in Revelations, because we aren’t there as a modern nation. My only comfort is that our Attack Subs will turn any attacking nation into Green Glowing Glass…
So what is your product?
http://www.power4patriots.com
Right now I just have the instructional videos/book. I’ve met some really great people because of this product, though, and I’ve got some other ideas in the works.
I just purched your 37 guide to foods package. How do I get a sprial book also? Thank u. I would like to know of your products that are avai. without the use of a computer.
Cynthia
PS This time I waited untill I recieved a conformation before I messed everything up.
Cynthia,
The food guide you are talking about is not my product. You will need to speak to the product owner.
I called the owner and found out the customer service contact info:
[email protected]
Here is good article on North Korea’s effort to make and use super EMP bombs
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/jul/18/inside-ring-north-korean-emp/?page=1