EMP weapons

[Harrm]

I'm hearing rumors of a top-secret weapon that the army is developing that can shut down electrical devices for up to 30 miles. Seems believeable, since I myself have been building EMP devices since I had started high school, and can get the things up to 100 feet myself. I have no doubt, given a large enough battery and powerful enough magnet, you could create fields that can cover vast areas.

The weapons are supposed to shut down all electronic devices, I think, or at least all digitally controlled devices. As you all know, anything with a circuit that becomes demagnetised becomes basically worthless.

Is it really true or can you all not say anything about it? A simple "No can tell" would be fine.

--Harrm

[Zebb]

They have had them for donkeys years mate, its a well known weapon thats designed as a pre-strike assault to knock out all the enemies radar and communications ability before the main attack goes in, very effective it is too....

[Yorkshire Sniper]

It can be done with a nuke

if the nuke is set off in low orbit above the earth the shock wave and EMP pulse are focused earthwards by the gravitaional pull as shown in Goldeneye.

If a bomber is ever beveloped with a fractional orbital bombardment capability then the enemy is in deep crap!

[Mamon]

If a bomber is ever beveloped with a fractional orbital bombardment capability then the enemy is in deep crap! 

It depends really, I don't think such a weapon would have much effect in Afghanistan.

[Harrm]

Mamon: Yup. Thats why I havent heard anything about it. The things basically useless t the moment, since we're fighitng reletivly low-grade technology.

Yorkshire: I know all about nukes and their EMP waves. Nuclear weapons also have this nasty side effect of completely and totally annihilating anything they hit. Not to mention fallout, and a major impact on the worlds climate as a whole. Even orbital explosions can destroy whole areas, and cost hundreds of thousands of lives. Plus, we can already send nukes into high orbit without the use of expensive bombers. They're called ICBMs.

Zebb: Any additional info on the device?

--Harrm

[Guest SI-Prozac]

some link i found

on E Bombs

[Jandarma]

Harrm

can you give a little detail about building an EMP device

like you did in high school

[Gordo_Viper]

EMP weapons are in in Dev or in operational airborne weapons systems wise. Mated with CALCM- conventional Cruise Missile.

Some interesting reading for the techno heads, building and EMP doctrine etc:-

Written by Dr Carlo Kopp

EMP

[Harrm]

Jand: Sure! The premise is pretty simple, both in idea and practice.

Lets say you have an electromagnetic field (basically a magnetic field you can turn off or on at whim). That things going to be omitting a pulse as long as you have it on. This pulse is a form of energy, right? But if you want to utilaize that energy, you're going to have to put that electric field to good use.

There are a couple ways to do it. The easiest way is a tesla coil (this is straying a bit off EMP, however). What a coil does, is electrify the air around it. By creating this singularity, you are simply charging up anything around it with a whole bunch of electrons.

Going back to the matter of hands (haw haw LAUGH YOU FOOLS!), the EMP works sort of like this, just on a different level:

I suggest reading the links that where stated before, because they explain it a hell of a lot better than I do...

When you unleash an EMP burst, you send out a wave of electrons in all directions, which then link up with whatever metal they hit and add to that metals current (if the circuit is closed). The way the E-bombs, as earlier stated, work is they overcharge wires so much with that huge flood of electons, it causes meltdown.

The other side of EMP, is you are simply demagnetising one electric field with another, more powerful magnetic field. You can do this with your hard drive in your computer, although I would not reccomend it at all. The transient density (big name for 'electrons in the air per unit of area') of a kitchen magnet is usually high enough to do this.

Sorry if I'm a very bad explainer ("explainer" (n.)- 1. a word I just made up) of this. Explaining physics has never come easy to me, since physics is a matter of understanding the basics behind something and knowing how to apply it. For me, Its hard to explain things when not in person.

Oh well. I love physics nonetheless. I'll try and take my time and write something better (hopefully with pictures) tomorrow or something.

--Harrm

[Guest SI-Prozac]

Emp goes off..... would it re right all matters magnetic fields? or just more magnetic materials......

and the mater's fields that are change would go out from the center of the explosion? or reverse?

[Jandarma]

you explained it very well actually

thank you

[Gordo_Viper]

Similar to previous link but some more info:-

EMP Doctrine

[Harrm]

SI: An EMP weapon is only as strong as the capacitance bank that you are supplying to it. The important thing about capacitance, is the amperes (I). The magnetic field, then, can be written like this:

(F of mag) = L(I¹)*(I²)

Where F is the force of Magnetism, L is length of wire, and I is current (in amperes). Because its a proportion, the more juice you put into either will amplify the magnetic field.

All matter? I wish. It would be cool to see people launched off into space...

Actually, since all matter is not magnetic, and since naturally occuring megnetism is rare (only in Magnesia, Turkey, go figure) it would do little if anything to the enviroment. As for other elctronics, since the field strength is proportional to the current going into it, then it really depends on the strength of the current in the wires you are supplying to the EMP device. Try not to think of it as an explosion, but more of an emission.

EMP fields are essentially overcharging anything with a vast quantity of electrons, and wires can only handle a certain threshold (since the energy adds heat) before the metal begins to melt. Only magnetic meterial close enough to the EMPs core will become demagnetised. An E-bomb would simply make those fields stonger, by increasgin the voltage, as shown using this (a derivative of Ohms law):

E=I® therefore I=E/R

Where E=Voltage, I=current, and R= resistance. If you add to E, then it will increase I.

Again. I apologise for being horrible at explaining these things. To demagnetise someting, you have to put a really strong magnet to a really weak magnet. For an electromagnet, you simply provide more current, which creates a stronger singularity. The reason a mganet to your hard drive will wipe the thing clean, is that on the inside is a permanent magnet, which is fairly weak (can be demagnetised easily by another magnet). Most magnets on Aircraft, etc. are electromagnets. It would far more beneficial to try and melt down these circuits, rather than to try and demagnetise them fully.

--Harrm

[Matt03]

I saw something right before the war in Iraq on one of the news shows about missles that can be fitted with EMP devices and can take out comms.

[Parabellum]

@ Harmm: Do you have a background in electrical engineering?

[Harrm]

Matt:

Again, refer to one of the ealier links that where provided by other forum residents. One of them is a truely massive report (took me half an hour to read through!) on EMP weapons, and some current models today.

The one issue is we are facing enemies whos strength lies not in their complexity, but in their willingness to use the most basic forms of combat to deal damage by numbers. Remember, give a million men a million machetes and have them slaughter one another, and the machete becomes a weapon of mass destruction.

Para:

Mostly schooling and stuff I tinker around with while at home. I like to screw around with random crap I can find laying around my house. Like, I took a modem plug, a CD-drive moter, and a LED diode and built a taser out of it. A weak one, but good enough for home defense, etc. I hope to fashion it into a shock baton later on, but I dont have the time to work on it. The only formal education I've taken is Digital electronics, Active Physics (boooooooring), and A+ computer repair.

I dont know what you all think, but I'm really not that old! I got a long way to go before I can get a degree in Quantum physics (what I'm studying for right now). Damn you Pouli! Damn you to hell!

I'm actually trying for a degree in Art or Drawing. Failing that, its a tie between Computer Repair, going into the army as a Combat Engineer, Graphics/Modelling (making videogames), and a strong Degree for Quantum Physics. Although I'm not sure I want to go through all the work.

--Harrm