check YouTube--Mega Science,Cosmic Storms..i watched this last nite.otherwise i would not have anything to say on the subject--
funny stuff on guys trying to start cars at 12 below--grinddddd-pop pop pop..hit it again Frank..blam--blam--grinddd
the web is such a great tool------

I worry about electronic safes and getting in them after an EMP

Discovery Channel's "Perfect Disaster":
http://shopping.discovery.com/product-64664.html?endecaSID=11EB387C3022

The one called "Perfect Storm" covers this issue.

Some scary statements in it.

Also, check out Scientific American, I believe it's the October 2008 issue (cover topic is about not enough water ). Covers this in a little more technical detail.

Agreed. I just don't like folks thinking lines are insulated, and then getting too close and finding out they aren't.

MDinana:
The insulation, those glass knobs and ceramic plates on power lines, is for electrical insulation of the power line from the ground.

It does nothing to insulate against the Magnetic effects that solar flares produce on the Earth's Magnetic field.
To insulate against magnetic effects you would need to build Faraday cages around all of the transmission line.
That is not going to happen.

It is the change in the Earth's magnetic field that induces the currents in the wires of the power lines and in the computer circuits.
This is much like how a generator works. A magnet is moved past a loop of wire.
The moving magnet forces an electrical current to flow in the loop of wire.

A solar flare changes the shape of the earth's magnetic field, it makes it wobble. That is like moving a very big magnet.

The change in the Earth's magnetic field turns long loops of electrical wires into generator windings.
Hydro transmisson lines are very long.
They are effectively loops of wire because to conduct electricity they have to be a complete circuit

Computers can be protected by being put in metal boxes or wire cages as magnetic shielding.

Long distance hydro lines can not be put inside metal boxes, but the lines can be provided with over current protectors.

One trick is to put more isolation transformers into long tranmission lines to break them into shorter lengths.

Another is to put surge protectors on the lines that will ground or disconnect short sections of them if there is a sudden current rise.

To protect home electronics storing it in metal boxes, not keeping it plugged in, not having it connected to an long antenna will all help.

You can expect there to be more problems with the satellite systems too.


JCWohlschlag said that so much easier and clearly than I just did, but I really wanted to see if I could

As others point out, a solar storm induces undesirable currents in electrical conductors, the insluation or not of said conductors is not relevant.

The voltage induced in short conductors is very small and generally of no importance.
The problems occur with very long conductors as would be found in large interconnected grid systems, the voltages can be great enough to overstress equipment and lead to large scale blackouts.
Given advance warning the risks may be reduced by isolating sections of the grid from each other, thus reducing the lengths of conductor in which voltages may be induced.

Any developed nation is at risk from solar storms, but the USA is perhaps at greater risk owing to the size of the nation and consequent very long grid lines.

Long distance telephone lines are also at risk if of copper, but most are now fibre optic which are immune.

All that while sustaining us.

The sun is devious that way. All I know is I wouldn't want to touch it.

So, go at night!

Kinda reminds me of the end of the movie "Escape to LA". When I think of everything suddenly going back 100+ years, I get a warm cozy feeling. All I need is a good excuse to abandon all this techno crap.

Of course, then I remember that without it, I wouldn't be able to read and write all these wonderful posts then.