Originally Posted By: KrisZ
But wouldn't the EMP signal be subject to the inverse square law once it entered the atmosphere? I think it would and hence that 40km region would essentially act as an insulator, diminishing the strength of the electro-magnetic field each meter it passed through the air.
There are two problems with that. We, standing here, are still in the magnetic field, which passes right through the Earth, and we're talking flux here, so the field is everything. Secondly, the air might be an insulator with respect to electricity, but not to magnetism.
Originally Posted By: KrisZ
Don't get me wrong, I do think that there would be an effect of such an event, our electrical grid probably being the major concern here, but I'm having a hard time believing that we would essentially go back to the industrial revolution age, with everything electrical/electronic being wiped out.
"Everything" would be a hyperbole, yes. The effects are really hard to predict. As I mentioned before, some stuff that "should have" survived tests back in the day did not, and others that were not expected to did. And, for obvious reasons, this isn't something that can actually be experimented with right now and enough data is still classified, with respect to a good deal of test numbers.
Originally Posted By: turtlevette
Infinity is a concept mathematicians use. It doesn't exist.
Friendly_jacek's point, at least how I read it, would be more correct if it were referring to the ionosphere as a Gaussian surface rather than something infinite. As for infinity, there is still one real, potential example. If space is flat and unbounded, it is infinite. Aside from that, it certainly is only a mathematical concept, but an extremely important one.
Originally Posted By: turtlevette
You could approximate it as a point. Its not going to radiate straight down. The 10x10 km or mile or whatever is very small compared to the size of the earth. The radiation is going to go in all directions.
The Tempest reference I provided before gives the geometry of the pulse effects on Earth, with the bulk of it in a cone shape from the point source. It gives the simplified equations, too.
Originally Posted By: turtlevette
Another theory is the largest particle accelerator on earth will create a mini black hole that will bounce around and consume the whole earth. You believe that one?
Few physicists or mathematicians believed that. That wasn't a theory, but a hypothesis, and one that certainly hasn't been corroborated to this date.
Shannow: Yep, that bouncing off the ionosphere does wonders!
Originally Posted By: turtlevette
Quit posting [censored] links and back your assertions yourself.
How can he do that? All he can really do is work with the math as provided and data through tests already done, and there are links for that. If Shannow does have a nuclear device in his possession and the ability to launch it into the ionosphere and detonate it and conduct tests thereafter, I'm sure he'd get into loads of trouble for doing so.
Instead of the Eiffel Tower, he'd launch with the Parliament Haus der Austr[al]ia in the background.
