Interesting Links for 24-07-2014

[andrewducker]

• So, a Guy Walks Into a Bar
  (tags: jokes funny )
• You can _have_ sex at 16, but send a photo of it to your partner and you're off to jail!
  (tags: crime sex porn age UK stupidity )
• America’s Favorite ‘Star Wars’ Movies (And Least Favorite Characters)
  (tags: starwars )
• Terminator 2 and the world’s biggest spoiler
  (tags: terminator movies spoilers )
• I'

Comments

[artkouros]

The next Carrington event may well be the end of civilization, if we don't prepare for it. Voltage induced on the power grid will destroy the many thousands of large power transformers that connect everything together. The world wide production capacity of these large transformers is only some hundreds a year. Without electricity there's no food, gas, or water, and civilization quickly collapses.
Luckily with NASA's early warning satellites we'll have plenty of time to shut down the power grid and open all the relays. If power companies have the sense and will to plunge their customers into darkness for a few hours.

[asher63]

Yeah this is scary stuff. I was reading that and thinking, "12 percent probability in the next ten years ... not good."

Which reminds me, I've got to get back to reading 'The Knowledge' today ...

http://www.amazon.com/The-Knowledge-Rebuild-World-Scratch/dp/159420523X/

[drainboy]

I was trying to figure out if just turning everything off, ducking, covering, then turning everything back on again would work. Have you any idea if there'd be any residual effect that could cause damage on turning things back on again?

[artkouros]

The energetic particles in the solar wind have two effects - they bring a large magnetic field that can induce voltages in wiring and they are actually energized protons which can cause damage to silicon electronics. The amount of voltage depends on the "loop area" of the wiring. Nothing an individual has is large enough to see much voltage, but anything with semiconductors in it is vulnerable to the proton radiation. Fortunately electronics are completely immune as long as they are not powered. Once the event is over you can turn them back on and there won't be any issue.

The real problem is that we have electrical lines thousands of miles long and these may develop very large voltages. If they are electrically disconnected then the voltage does no harm. If they are connected to transformers and other equipment the large voltages can damage the equipment. In large national networks the voltages can cause a fault that can propagate for miles and miles.

[drainboy]

Thanks for the in-depth reply. I guess it then comes down to how long we'd have between NASA realising we were in for a significant event and the CME hitting earth. Given you'd first have to get the message on TV, explaining what was happening and what the general public should do, at the same time as turning off the power, thus removing the ability to explain the situation, prevent mass panic and get people to turn off their own devices (phones etc), I wonder how good the best situation would be.

Hospitals, for instance. Anyone on life support would die, apart from those you could continue to deal with by non electrical device.

Someone must have written some decent SF on this sort of thing :)

[artkouros]

Typically we'd have a day or two to get ready.

[drainboy]

Both much longer than I'd have figured (I guess 8 light minutes is still pretty far, even for highly energetic particles) and also nowhere near enough.

[artkouros]

A day should be enough to protect the power grid if the utilities have plans in place beforehand, and have the guts to implement them. And once the power is turned off every device is protected (except the battery powered ones). And we're fortunate to have our own magnetic field as a shield, although it's weakening as we move into the next polarity flip. There will be a time when we are quite vulnerable, but hopefully we'll have moved beyond our current technology by then.