Is vintage hardware better able to survive an EMP event?

[patters]

Got pondering last night - is it possible that the extreme miniaturization of current chips makes them less likely to survive an EMP event or significant solar storm, like the one that ruined power lines and telegraph cables in the early 20th century (I think)?

Would the owners of vintage computers (like those with vintage cars without ECUs) suddenly rule the world? Interesting thought...

[flange]

I believe even vintage cars say 1920s to the 70's would still be affected as they posses an ignition coil, regulator box and spark plugs etc and in the main they also had electrical fuel pumps ( think Morris Minors, Austins various etc) so they would be knocked out. Early diesels ( lorries? ) with mechanical injectors and fuel pumps would be ok I would have thought. As for say Speccys and the like surviving I suppose military grade chips where possible and a bloody great big Faraday cage would come in handy!

[1024MAK]

It's semiconductors that are most affected, that would include Z80 and 6502 processors, DRAM, SRAM etc.

Equipment that only uses resistors, relays, coils, non-electronic regulators, motors etc. may well survive if far enough away.

Normal military grade semiconductors would also die, as these normally are similar to commercial versions but have a much extended temperature range and maybe better input protection features.

Shielding may help in some circumstances, as long as there are no external inputs or outputs where electrical energy can get in.

The shielding would have to be effective for both the electrical field and the magnetic field. Even then, it may only provide limited protection.

Power distribution systems go off-line due to both actual damage and due to protection systems operating. After an event, some protection systems may need to be manually reset.

Power lines can act like long aerials. An electromagnetic field can induce large voltages in the long lines.

Mark

[rich_r]

Valves are pretty immune, due to the larger gaps between the electrodes (and generally working at much higher voltages). It's said that military aircraft manufacturers didn't rush in to fancy integrated circuits in avionics until after the Cold War started to calm down a bit for this reason.

I have loads of valves (one hobby was restoring old radios), but trying to knock up a working CPU might be a bit of a stretch.

Best suggestion is to shield the pcb with an earthed metal box. I guess some 1980s computers might actually fare better than others - for example, the Amiga has a reasonable amount of metal shielding internally, but probably not enough.

[1024MAK]

Atari STFM and various other computers sold in the USA or other countries where EMI regulations are/were quite strict will also have or likely have either steel cases or internal steel shielding.

However, there are still plenty of holes in these cases/shields. Plus of course the mains cable and those of any peripherals that are connected (TV/monitor/mouse).

And for the metal case/shields to be good enough to counter a much larger EMI signal from a nuclear weapon, they would have to be much better. The commercial computers were only designed to have shielding /cases to reduce the amount of interference escaping from them to meet the relevant regulations.

Unless of course you keep your "retro" computers in a main battle tank or armoured personal carrier that is designed for combat in a nuclear war...

Mark

[Morkin]

Unless of course you keep your "retro" computers in a main battle tank or armoured personal carrier that is designed for combat in a nuclear war...

I certainly will, after reading this thread.

[uglifruit]

It is potentially worrying to consider what the consequences of another bout of solar activity like that of the Carrington Event* (of 1859) might be today.

The recent aurora spotting has been very pretty, but it'd be less pretty if accompanied by the world's banks' computer data being destroyed. Good luck proving you have and savings, or own your house!


* it's even got a sci-fi dystopian name. The Lambda Incident at Black Mesa sounds pale in comparison.

[ParadigmShifter]

They must make daily backups in banking though so they should cope.

I think the Earth's magnetic field is well overdue for a polarity flip as well and when that happens the magnetic field will weaken and turn off for a while (might be a few hundred years of that too IIRC? Not sure how fast they expect the flip to be). That's gonna have a mahoosive impact since the magnetic field protects us from a lot of the bad stuff in the solar wind. The aurorae will probably be spectacular though!

[1024MAK]

If that happens, best get your bids in fast for some space in an underground cave/mine/tunnel or similar...

Mark

[uglifruit]

If that happens, best get your bids in fast for some space in an underground cave/mine/tunnel or similar...

I've got my place booked. And an looking forward to being given my pip boy.

[ParadigmShifter]

I think we are safe if Betelgeuse goes pop though, far enough away, will probably be able to see the explosion in the daytime for a month or so they think. That could happen at any time they reckon (in the next 1000 years anyway probably, could be tonight though!).

Someone at WoS said his brother told him we had sent a spaceship into a black hole... I said I think we'd be in big trubs if there was a black hole that near to the solar system lol

The Voyager probes only left the outer part of the solar system a few years ago (still not reached the Oort cloud though yet).

[patters]

the Carrington Event

That's the one I was thinking of, in fact.

[zx64]

Solar storm can only destroy electronics connected to mains, I think. Unless your phone / laptop is on charger during the event, it should be fine

[Guesser]

If the pulse is big enough to induce enough voltage to burn out ignition coils, I'd be more concerned about all the other horrible ways I'm dead than whether my car will still start tbh.

[1024MAK]

Don't forget, the human (and various other animal) nervous system also uses electrical signals...

Mark