EMPs were the subject of previous posts. They were mostly to explain what EMPs are and why they are a problem for you. I will repeat the basic information in this post as well for those who have not read the previous ones.
Electro Magnetic Pulses, or EMPs for short, are one of the side effects of nuclear bombs. They can also be caused by the sun when it does a large solar mass ejection. The latter has wiped out electrical grids in small areas of the earth.
Electronic devices are affected by EMPs. That includes such items as cell phones, televisions, microwaves and cars less than 30 years old. Most electrical grids are so dependent on electronics that areas affected by EMPs will lose their electricity.
Most experts seem to believe that it will take years to even get electricity going again in affected areas. Many experts think widespread EMPs will knock civilization back to the stone age permanently.
If you think the last is unlikely, remember that factories run on electricity and the power plants need electronics to make electricity.
Most people can not do much about general EMP problems. We can, however, do things to protect some of our own most important electronic devices. A Faraday Cage is the way for us normal people to do this. There are some very fancy versions of Faraday Cages. I am going to tell you how to make a simple Faraday Cage.
I can not guarantee you that the Faraday Cage I will tell you about will work. That is partly because nobody really knows what will happen with a really bad, widespread occurrence of EMPs. I will give you the best simple information that I could find.
The basic idea of a Faraday Cage is to surround your electronic device that you want to protect, by both insulation and metal. The electronic device needs insulation from contact with the metal. The metal needs to completely surround the electronic device.
Shredded paper, styrofoam and cardboard are some of the types of insulation that I have seen mentioned. I do not like styrofoam myself because I used to rub balloons on it to make them stick to things and that builds up static electricity. Some of the fancy Faraday Cages have elaborate devices to prevent static electricity.
One of the simplest ways to make a Faraday Cage is to put your electronic device in a cardboard box and cover the outside of the box with aluminum foil. It seems to be fairly important to make sure there are no gaps in either the foil or the insulation.
This post is getting too long, so I will continue this post.
Thanks. I hope so too.
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