[grabby]

What would an electromagnetic pulse do to our power grid?

That would be something to protect aagainst if they try it.

but that isn't too likely, is it?

[UIUCstudent01]

First -

A. They have to get the missle in the United States. (If you assumed that they'd be striking back.)

B. I'm pretty sure the army can function without electronics. Also, their attack might work only once because you can shield electronics from the effects of EMP. If military planners had a brain cell and are not planning to fail (failing to plan); they would most likely understand Iran's plans. (Considering I'm sure if it is on here on peakoil.com, then the cat is probably out of the bag...)

Second - EMP's cause material destruction. On the 'homeland' (ug why does it sound like 'fatherland' or 'motherland'), this would cause destruction and would cause severely low morale while at the same time sort of achieving a high moral ground (by not killing anyone). You make a part of the nation limp so that other sections of the nation have to help the limper and not concentrate on war production (going into Iran I'm assuming will require at least a pullout in Iraq or a draft and directed production of war stuff of some kind to replace the losses - I'm thinking).

Third - If we go into Iran. Everyone with a brain cell that works would be skeptical of the reasons given. The administration would find very few news reporters willing to diseminate the propaganda. For the conspiratorial minded, it would most likely involve an EMP over a useless city like Cleveland by A-New-Iran-Funded-and-Supported-Al-Queda-Linked-Group.

Fourth - We aren't going into Iran. It's highly, highly improbable. They don't have the oil that we can steal to pay for the war. They have a relatively stable democratic (not like that stopped the U.S. before?) government.

[Falconoffury]

All they would need is a team of hackers and virus writers to destroy millions of dollars of commerce in the USA. The writer of the infamous blaster worm has still never been found.

[RonMN]

If the US got nailed with an EMP attack we would loose ALOT! Most satalites in orbit would be lost (therefor most cellphones, internet, GPS, etc., wouldn't work). The electric grid would go down, cars would stop running...

It would be most likely this would be followed by a full scale nuclear strike...but in the off chance it was a rogue nation or terrorist with only 1 nuke...then i think the 1st thing i would do is fill everything that could hold water...it wouldn't be long before those water towers were empty.

Early warning? during any power failure, just look at a battery operated clock, wristwatch, or turn on a battery operated radio...if it stopped as well, it MIGHT be an EMP attack...if all of these devices stopped along with a power outage AND my car wouldn't start...yup...i'd start filling water containers!

That electric grid ain't gonna be fixed in a day or 2.

[TorrKing]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('UIUCstudent01', '
')B. I'm pretty sure the army can function without electronics.

[lakeweb]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('grabby', 't')he great threat with serious repurcussions is this:
EMP

[J-Rod]

Hey now, I live close to Cleveland, it's hardly useless. On another note, from what I have read, the higher the burst, the greater the spread of EMP. Here's links to some pertinent information.

EMPs
More EMPs

It's very hard to make an efficient Faraday Cage of any real size. You can cage a room, but the EMP can flow through electrical lines. We are all pretty much completely dependent on stuff that EMP will render useless. The trick would really be getting the payload here, easier said than done. ICBMs can be shot down (however we saw how good the Patriots were in '91) and otherwise, a plane would have to enter US airspace, and make it to like Kansas. Not gonna happen.

[something_awfull]

I doubt the US will send troops into Iran, they are more than likely to lob a few cruise missiles at 'em, or even more likely, Israel will get toey enough about Iran's manhattan project and lob a few bombs at 'em.

[bentstrider]

Cars would probably still work after something like this.
Provided they are 70's or older models with no ECU and are turned off.
As long as they're isn't any current running through the lines, or the electrical system isn't exposed in any way, it will still keep turning.
But, that would mean only very few vehicles would be operating.
The only other engines I could think of that would still be working would be straight steam and primitively designed Diesels that only require a battery and glow plugs to start it.
In that case, I would hide a '74 K5 and some useful materials in a buried overseas shipping container in a deserted area.
I mean, who cares about the looting and the violence, the after-stench of decaying assault/accident victims will cause death itself.

[RonMN]

1 Question...if i (hypothetically) had my car battery disconected when an EMP hit...so the car wasn't affected...how long before i could reconnect the battery & start it up again? Hours? Days?

[AirlinePilot]

EMP is at the speed of light, once its detonated the effects are immediate and momentary. Its the damage done by the pulse that is the root problem. If your car is ok, or shielded, then you should be able to start it up immediately.

[bobcousins]

If a car is susceptible to EMP, it won't matter if it is running or not when EMP strikes. Cars are generally protected due to the Faraday cage effect, most of the wiring will cope with a high voltage spike (they are designed for high current), but electronics in the engine control are likely to be sensitive to a high voltage spike.

EMP is not a significant threat compared to an oil embargo anyway.

[Free]

I always thought that EMP was useless on a strategical level (or for a terrorist attack), except as a side effect of a nuclear explosion (but then I think you will have more serious problems than EMP).

But I always wondered why it is never used on a tactical level, especially in asymmetrical warfare. There it could be indeed the great equalizer - imagine a hightech army with night-vision-goggles, encrypted radio communication etc. against people who's only equipment is a gun.
Suddenly it goes "zap" and it's gun against gun...

Alledgedly a flux compression generator ( http://www.tfd.chalmers.se/~valeri/EMP.html )
is easy to construct (certainly not much more difficult than an IED) - and can have a devastating EMP-effect on a local area.

As far as real high tech stuff like fighter planes and helicopters are concerned I think they are EMP hardened, but I couldn't find any data how "hard"...