Was the EMP realistic. Probably not - (nf)
Larry Dwyer
hpda!ld Nov 27 17:10:00 1983
The very least they could have done with the electro-magnetic
pulse (EMP) was to have it arrive at the same time as the flash.
It seems to me that both electro-magnetic waves and light waves
travel at the speed of light (or the speed of sound, or the speed
of a snail, or some such thing).
Of course, if Hollywood had ARRANGED it to arrive simultaneously
with the flash, no one would have noticed the meter in the auto-
mobile flopping to-and-fro because they would have been blinded
(at least temporarily) by the brilliance of the flash. From a
television point of view, this would not have made a very in-
teresting shot. This demonstrates that TDA was just another at-
tempt by the mogols in tinseltown to try to make a fast buck
(claiming it was as accurate as possible to get everyone to
watch).
The EMP, which is generated in the first millisecond (or so) of
the blast, is highly destructive of transistorized equipment, but
automobile ignition systems should survive. It might peg the
daylights out of some of the sensitive meters in a car (the ones
with lots of windings), but not the entire electrical system.
By the way, if it is not true that the both wave fronts would ar-
rive at the same time, then someone ought to patent these
faster-than-light waves and sell them to the SETI people who can
use it to send messages to the stars!
Larry Dwyer
ucbvax!hpda!ld
er...@aplvax.uucp
I am not an expert on EMP, but if EMP would damage meters
because of their windings, it seems to me that it would also damage
the coil, wiring harness, etc.
--
eric
...!seismo!umcp-cs!aplvax!eric
John Cabell
I'm not sure, but I think that the missile sends out the EMP
befor it hits. This is probably wrong, but that it the way
I thought it happened.
From the Deep Dark Dungeon of Cantel,
Theodrick, alias johnc
:->