EMP can cause significant problems. However the electronic device 1) must be on when the emp hits, 2) be designed in a manner that the effects of emp will cause damage and 3) not be in an enclosed or shielded area to be subject to the emp. Most old school stuff, like magnetos and battery-coil ignition will not be affected. Mostly solid state devices are affected. Any semiconductor device, like a diode or transistor, immediately conducts. In many circuits this causes simultaneous currents in multiple paths that were never intended. The result is overloads, excess current and/or voltage which causes destruction of part of the device. In ICs and microprocessors everything turns on internally and usually results in destructive currents. In the late 70's I worked on ground equipment for the Pershing missile. We had to design all of the electronics to be emp tolerant, meaning that the condition of everything conduction did not destroy the circuit. Also in those times it was found that the Russian MIG-29 had a lot of tube based electronics in it. It was determined that one of the primary reasons was the emp tolerance of tubes and tube circuits.
I would not worry too much about emp. A large solar flair can have a similar effect, not as powerful but covering a larger geographic area, and is more likely than a nuclear blast, and could cause quite a bit of havoc to our modern technological world.
paul
I would not worry too much about emp. A large solar flair can have a similar effect, not as powerful but covering a larger geographic area, and is more likely than a nuclear blast, and could cause quite a bit of havoc to our modern technological world.
paul
