EMPs have existed in pop culture for decades,
frequently touted as a doomsday weapon that would weaken developed countries enough
for them to be controlled. But many popular ideas about EMPs are actually totally wrong; they’re a
lot more complex than movies and video games would have you believe. So, what would really happen
if somebody detonated an EMP on our planet? This is Unveiled, and today we’re answering the
extraordinary question; what if there was an electromagnetic pulse attack on Earth?
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To damage electronics across a large area, you’d need more than just an electromagnetic pulse;
you’d need a nuclear electromagnetic pulse, detonated high up in the Earth’s atmosphere.
This is generally too high for the explosion itself to cause nuclear fallout, but high enough
that a large amount of electromagnetic energy is released, which can greatly affect electronics.
So, when you see characters in movies fret about so-called “EMP bombs” on the ground, capable
of taking out electronics in entire cities, well, that’s unrealistic to say the least. Some
experiments have been done on creating weapons that could behave the way a movie EMP does,
including into “explosively pumped flux compression generators” or “EPFCGs”,
but it’s not yet been developed anywhere near the point of deployment. There are other methods to
affect electronics and communications, however, such as by taking out a power station or using
radar jamming technology, which certainly does exist and has been used all over the world.
Because the really dangerous EMPs are also nuclear weapons,
that severely limits the number of countries or organizations able to perpetrate such an attack.
A country not only needs to be nuclear-capable but also needs to have a way to detonate a nuclear
bomb at a high altitude. So, a group of extremists would need more than to steal a nuclear warhead;
even if they managed that they likely wouldn’t be able to detonate it at the correct altitude. Fewer
than a dozen countries in the world have nuclear capability and many more have signed treaties
pledging not to develop nuclear weapons. Of all the nuclear-powered countries, China, the US,
Russia, and possibly North Korea are often pointed to as potential aggressors. A North Korean EMP was
the basis of the video game “Homefront” in 2011. Many western media outlets have also scaremongered
about the possibility of a Chinese nuclear EMP attack, but many commentators knowledgeable about
China maintain that China really isn’t interested in engaging in a surprise attack and expensive,
costly war with the west. In fact, it’s a lot more likely that the opposite would happen;
after all, the only country to ever use nuclear weapons in warfare is the US.
But hostile nations aren’t the only way an EMP could strike Earth. We’re actually always at
risk of an EMP because the sun experiences solar flares that can create them. In fact, this is
exactly what happened during the Carrington Event of 1859. Thankfully, the Carrington Event happened
before the world’s infrastructure was dependent on electronics; the only casualties were a few
telegram systems and a few operators who got minor electric shocks. Telegrams couldn’t be sent for a
day or so in some places. But a Carrington Event today could become a planet-wide EMP,
and this was one of the predicted doomsday scenarios of the year 2012. A solar storm actually
did happen that year, but it thankfully missed Earth by nine days. Electromagnetic radiation like
this actually hits Earth all the time, but our magnetosphere is able to protect us. The famous
auroras seen at the north and south poles are caused by solar wind hitting the magnetosphere.
Particularly powerful solar flares can be so dangerous to planes that they have to be diverted,
in case they cause navigational problems. The good news is that we’d at least have
warning ahead of time; there were two hours between astronomer Richard Carrington witnessing
the sun produce a massive coronal mass ejection and Earth being affected, which would hopefully
be enough time to get any planes out of the air. There’s one final possibility for an EMP,
however – one that might not give us any warning at all: an alien invasion.
Aliens able to get to our solar system with the intention to invade would absolutely have nuclear
weapons and knowledge of electromagnetic radiation, and would have no qualms about
unleashing a nuclear weapon capable of crippling Earth’s infrastructure if that was their goal.
But exactly what would happen? Well, as already said, the transport industry would be immediately
affected as all planes would have to land as soon as possible. Ships would be in trouble too
because, while they wouldn’t sink, their navigation systems could fail.
They’d be left with only paper maps and the stars to navigate by. With a big enough EMP, civilians
might also have trouble with their electronics and appliances. It wouldn’t be the same as a power
outage, because the EMP could fry electronics, ruining them permanently. This applies to both
wired and wireless devices; computers, cell phones, TVs, radios, fridges, electric lights,
telephones, and every vehicle with a battery. The entire world might grind to a standstill,
with people not only unable to use any devices, but unable to get any news on what is happening,
since all communication systems would go down. Only military communications systems,
shielded from electromagnetic radiation, would survive, while a high-altitude bomb or
geomagnetic storm would even ruin the satellite infrastructure. Most hospitals would also be
severely affected, with generators and backup generators going offline, which would leave
millions of vulnerable patients worldwide unable to access the care they need, cutting off life
support. Finally, world banking would go caput, too. With the central banking system taken out,
credit and debit cards, ATMs, and mobile banking systems would go down. Cash would become king,
as would other valuable commodities like precious metals and any working electronics.
The good news is that an EMP itself doesn’t pose an immediate risk to people, even from radiation.
People wouldn’t need to evacuate, so the only real danger would be the mass hysteria
and potential looting and riots. However, if a hostile country or alien invasion is to blame,
then you probably have bigger things to worry about than the fact your fridge and laptop
aren’t working. You’d need to try and rendezvous with loved ones and get out of densely populated
urban centers – something made even harder by the fact the majority of cars would have failed while
on the road, leaving permanent traffic. You’d have huge numbers of people migrating by foot, and in
the case of an alien invasion, there probably wouldn’t be any safe places anyway. Luckily,
these scenarios are incredibly unlikely! In the case of a geomagnetic storm,
you wouldn’t need to evacuate; staying put and waiting for news would be your best option.
For a while at least, we would have to return to traditional manufacturing using human
labor rather than automation, and the first thing on the agenda would be rebuilding the
communication infrastructure – radios first. If radios could be rebuilt and distributed,
people would panic a lot less because they could get news bulletins and information, and would
know that this isn’t the end of the world. It would take a few years, but we could absolutely
get back to where we are now since none of the knowledge of how the internet, TVs, or computers
work would be lost. The world’s militaries would be needed to not only maintain order
but make use of their protected comms equipment to relate news to people in the interim.
Interestingly, people in the developed world would fare a lot worse than people in less
developed countries where electronic and digital systems aren’t relied on as much. Cars would still
be affected, but many people would still be able to go about their lives and trade with others.
A global EMP attack would, at the very least, be a return to the pre-industrial era,
at least temporarily. The pre-industrial era had a lot of problems, but humans did survive
for hundreds of thousands of years before the Industrial Revolution came along, so an EMP still
wouldn’t be a death knell for human civilization. The only EMP likely to strike Earth would come
from the sun, and we’d have enough warning about it beforehand to properly safeguard against its
effects. And that’s what would happen if there was an electromagnetic pulse attack on Earth.
What do you think? Is there anything we missed? Let us know in the comments, check out these other
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