Our tech is the lifeblood of modern living and for a reason. Our phones alone handle almost everything for us.
Now imagine what would happen if you lost all modern technology in the blink of an eye.
That could happen in the event of an EMP attack. But what is an EMP and how does it work?
An EMP is one of the newest terror threats out there. It can fry our electronics in a snap. As we live in the first world with electronics, imagine life without them anywhere.
There are no banks. There’s no transport. There are no consumer electronics.
What can you do to protect your tech from it?
Today we’ll talk about EMP, emp protection and what can you do once it happens. Why do you need to learn this? You’re about to find out.
What Is Electromagnetic Pulse?
What is EMP?
EMP stands for electromagnetic pulse, not electronic magnetic pulse. This is a short burst of electromagnetic energy, known for its many applications in both private and military industries.
The event tends to be very short, nothing more than an instant, as it expands with the speed of light. This burst, however, is very powerful due to the sudden expulsion of strong energy. It is crucial to expand your tech knowledge to know how EMP can affect them.
An EMP wave can span all the different frequencies along the radio spectrum. It can reach everything from optical frequencies up to ionizing ranges. These are the X-ray and gamma-ray energies.
There are four forms that an EMP can ride, depending on the event. These are:
- Electric field
- Magnetic field
- Electromagnetic radiation
- Electrical conduction
Many of these EMPs can come from many natural events and occur on a small range. Of the four, only radiation and solar magnetic flares can span long distances and create massive damage.
Sources of EMP
The occurrence of electromagnetic pulse comes from different sources. The three source types are natural, man-made and weapon effects. Each one has a specific impact on your tech.
To prevent any of these events to damage your precious tech, it’s best if you use a bag with EMP shielding. It sounds nuts, but electromagnetic pulses, not electronic magnetic pulses, occur on Earth.
1. Natural EMP
Natural electromagnetic energy comes from different phenomena. These may come from something like:
- a lightning storm
- an electrostatic discharge
- meteoric EMP from meteorites
- Coronal mass ejections
A lightning storm contains high voltage levels and has a strong initial current. It tapers off on the succeeding pulses.
Electrostatic discharge or ESD happens when two charged items are in contact. Such a discharge creates tiny and localized high-voltage pulses.
Meteoric EMPs and Coronal Mass Ejections come from meteorites and solar flares, which discharge EMPs as a secondary effect.
2. Man-Made EMP
Man-made EMP comes from our daily dealings with tech. Most of it is switching pulses from different electrical circuitry. It can be anything from power line surges that can create high voltage EM pulses to regular localized events in every circuitry.
This type of electromagnetic pulse is not something you should worry yourself. It’s an after-effect of all the artificial materials that we use in our daily living.
3. Military-Type EMP
Weapon effects are what many of us know as military-type EMPs. These are not your run of the mill electronic magnetic pulses. Their design is for an EMP attack.
We would want to talk more about this type of EM, considering this is a rising concern now. With what is going on these days, you would want to prepare yourself with EMP protection.
The advent of information on the internet is more sophisticated now more than ever. We find more and more people having access to military EMPs. This is not something we should take lightly.
The growth of domestic threats is remarkable. An EMP can create unprecedented damage to your life and your tech.
How? What are EMP threats and why you should be wary of them?
Understanding EMP Attacks
To understand EMP attacks, we need to understand that modernities run on tech. From your car to airplanes to your laptop, everything uses electrical circuits and microchips.
These circuits are sensitive to the slightest electronic magnetic pulse. Even in factories, people in the assembly line use personal EMP protection to prevent microchips from frying through static electricity.
Due to this, an EMP attack can fry the circuits in your electronics. It’s not a normal shutdown either. It will destroy the circuitry and you will brick your electronic devices.
Imagine an airport shutting down full because of an EMP attack.
You can only think how a busy, high-traffic city would react if all its tech dies in one go. Imagine yourself losing all your precious banking services and data from your laptops, phones, and even your clock.
The Threat of EMP
A nuclear EMP is one of the worst-case scenario events in any attack. It is a burst of electromagnetic radiation, occurring only after a nuclear explosion. It might sound like fear-mongering, but even small nuclear detonations can spread it.
There’s even a way to create an electromagnetic pulse generator by yourself. It’s simple to build, requiring only a high voltage ignition coil and a lithium battery. This is enough to kill small electronics in an instant.
From local pranksters to domestic level terror threats, an EMP wave is as imminent as ever. It will ruin your day 100%, and it will burn out your tech.
How Do You Get EMP Protection?
What do you do if you need to protect yourself from an EM pulse? What are EMP shield units? How can you prevent it from affecting your precious tech?
Electromagnetic shielding is a way to reduce or even prevent the effects of an electronic magnetic pulse. This is possible through the proper use of barriers using conductive and magnetic materials.
EMP protection works due to the materials creating their own magnetic field, canceling out any incoming pulses. This reflects the electromagnetic radiation – nothing goes out and nothing goes in.
One of the popular ways to create shields from EMP attacks is the use of a Faraday Cage. Hardened enclosures remove all possible penetrations. This prevents any disruption of tech inside.
The application of traditional Faraday cages limits it to lesser applications. At most, they are usable for disaster shelters, prepper homes, and bunker type cellars.
What you need in your everyday life, however, is a practical use of EMP shielding.
Practical EMP Shielding
What are EMP shields and how do you make them practical? There are a couple of ways to do it.
In shielded gear, enclosures tend to receive coatings of metallic ink. This coating will have materials with metal fillings in the form of particles. These can be anything from copper to nickel.
This gear shielding can be in a liquid spray form. It then dries to create a piece of continuous conductive material. This connects to grounding, which then creates proper EMP protection.
There are also items called Faraday bags. These bags use the same copper material to guard whatever’s inside them. Faraday bags will then reflect any incoming electromagnetic waves.
Faraday bags come in a variety of sizes, depending on the type you need. You can buy something small enough to fit a backpack or bugout bag that you can carry everywhere. You can also find something that can cover an entire full-size laptop.
Using Practical EMP Shields
A way to use both practical shieldings from EMP attacks for your tech is what is we call nesting. Nesting is using two Faraday bags, putting one inside each other. This is extra protection for your most valuable electronic devices.
Nesting is perfect for preppers. Those who are looking to go further during an imminent threat need it.
Some events, like a solar flare and nuclear attacks, can bypass weaker shielding. To create ample layers of EMP protection, you would want at least two of these Faraday bags.
When nesting against electronic magnetic pulse, here’s a tip. You want to have a bigger bag size handle a smaller bag. This prevents any possibility of damage to the protective copper layers.
A Faraday bag should be enough to handle as much as the E1 phase of a nuclear EMP, up to an indirect E3 pulse. Since many of the bags are short enough not to accumulate energy, they stay safe within your bag’s pockets.
What Is an EMP and Should I Prep?
What is an EMP?
Electromagnetic pulse is a phenomenon that can happen in imminent threats, from solar flares to nuclear explosions. This can fry any electronic device out there. It will send you straight to the pre-industrial revolution.
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