WW!!! E.M.P First Strike

The Danger of E.M.Ps
Ru'Ya Hussein
Grade 6

Hypothesis

My hypothesis is that when I bring the Magnet (which will be replicating an E.M.P) towards my circuit, I believe that the LEDs that need the most OHMs will turn off, because the E.M.P will disturb the magnetic field. The E.M.P will draw away the electrons causing the LEDs to turn off. Since the "EMP" is there for a brief moment it messes up the field rules very quickly so what you will be seeing is very fast. When the E.M.P comes close it could possibly make the first LED dim and the second LED will be dimmer than the first. If most LEDs in the first circuit aren't turning on, then I can imagine that in the second circuit, only the first LED will just barely light up. All of this will be for one approach and retreat back of the "EMP" which should be about 1.5 seconds, like a lightning strike. None of this is to scale with a real E.M.P or a real power grid.

Research

 

USA's E.M.P and Transformers

  1. Electromagnetic Pulses (E.M.P.)are serious and largely unexplored enough that the USA government assigned an EMP task force to investigate further and solve effects to the electrical grid.
  2. It is believed an EMP can cause a degrading damage to the power grid by producing damaging currents and voltage surges in the grid itself.
  3. There are 3 types of EMP: E1, E2, E3. E1 and E2 all occur in .01 seconds, E3 occurs between 1 to 100 seconds.
  4. It's E3 long waves that are the most damaging to power grid transmission lines.
  5. Most of the current studies done by several nations on EMP bombs is classified/ secret. This is one of the reasons why the effects of EMPs are unknown or misunderstood due also to misinformation.
  6. According to The Electrical Power Research Institute, in a rare technical report in 2019 titled "High altitude electro magnetic pulse and the bulk power system" potential impacts and mitigation strategies simulating results indicated that the region of black-out could include multiple states covering an area of 200 to 300 thousand square miles.
  7. In 1962, at the Johnston Atoll, the USA tested a 1.4 megaton nuclear bomb at an altitude of 250 miles, called Starfish Prime. The E.M.P effect was much greater than expected, damaging Hawaii's power grid 900 miles away and damaging 8 out of 21 satellite's so badly the could not  work.
  8. According to James Woolsey, former director of the CIA, most electronics would be destroyed by an EMP, and an E.M.P would also severely damage power grid transformers.
  9. In order to transmit electricity over long distances the power grid uses step up transformers to produce high voltage and then uses step down transformers to distribute safe voltages to homes and businesses.
  10. The USA power grid is dependent on APPROX. 2000 high voltage transformers. Currently the US has 5 factories that produce 40 transformers a year. After the pandemic it now takes 3 years to order and receive one transformer.

Yellow =  https://youtu.be/rp6TkNCaekA?si=Udnhvt4JQGEW7Fnp

Red = Light, Sound, and Electricity (Book)

Blue  = How Faraday Cages Work

Purple = Conductors and Insulators: Definition, Applications, ...

Orange = Link fields

Pink = The Carrington Event: History's greatest solar storm | Space

Dark Green = Positive and Negative Charge

Gold = What are amps, watts, volts and ohms?

Maroon = Electromagnetic force

Light Purple = Ruya Knowledge From Before

Green = < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKxep82_9b8>

A Science Book = Light Grey

Light Peach =  <https://www.google.com/search?q=tesla+coil&oq=tesla+coil&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i512l6j69i60.7627j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&safe=active&ssui=on> Not working please copy paste in google search bar.

Current Flow

  • What I learned is that water is an acronym for electric current, it is VERY similar except one thing, let's say in a pipe you have water it moves more freely in the middle cause the sides cause drag, however in an electric wire the opposite happens, the electrons move faster along the sides
  • In an electric current the atoms in a copper wire are bumping each other and knocking the atoms electrons out into the other one transferring electricity.
  • The drift velocity in copper wire is 1.5 inches per hour ( 4 cm).
  • When one magnetic field comes close to another working field the first field tells the electrons in the other field to move faster with more energy.
  • There are 2 different types of current: AC and DC.
  • AC means Alternating current and DC means Direct current.
  • Most street lamps are AC so if you take a video of the street lamps and put it into slow motion, then you will see the blinking street lights.

 

Fields

  •  I learned that if there is an electrical field it automatically makes a magnetic field.
  •  Imagine a battery powering a light bulb, it's not actually putting energy directly into the electrons the electric field is, and the field takes that energy and puts the energy into the electrons.
  •  The magnetic field is the one that wiggles the electrons back and forth so one electron doesn't go from the beginning to the light bulb and back!
  • The magnetic field moves the electrons in the wire that lights up the light bulb.
  •  If the magnetic field is strong then it will be able to pull small magnets toward it.
  •  Did you know that if there was a big man and a small baby fairly close to each other in space then over the years the man might come a bit closer to the baby, but the man will pull the baby closer to himself.
  •   If there were two earths right beside each other and you were in the middle, you would just float there stable by the earth's magnetic fields, that are pulling on you equally.
  • Did you know that the earth's magnetic field causes Aurora Borealis because when the sun makes a solar flare some of it gets caught in the Earths magnetic field then goes to the North and South poles and creates Auroras!

 

Faraday

  • A Faraday cage can protect your electronics from a EMP.
  •  A faraday cage is formed of conductive metals. It is used to protect sensitive electronics.
  •  Although it can block an EMP it can also block out signals of any kind.
  • Faraday cages cannot block stable or slow magnetic fields.
  • I have learned that a car is NOT a faraday cage even though many people have said it is but it is not grounded so it is not. But if you were to connect a conductive wire from your car out the back of the car so it would scrape against the road then yes your car would be grounded.
  • All faraday cages have to be grounded to be a faraday cage.
  • If you put an electronic in a faraday bag you could not call from inside of the bag.
  • If you put your electronic at least half way in, it won't matter because it is still vulnerable to an EMP.

 

Types of Energy

  • Potential = This is stored energy. Climb something, and you store potential energy to jump, roll, or dive.
  • Mechanical = Also known as elastic energy, this is the potential energy stored in stretched objects such as a taut bow.
  • Nuclear = Atoms are bound together by energy, which they release when they split apart in nuclear reactions.
  • Chemical = Food, fuel, and batteries store energy within the chemical compounds they are made of, which is released by reactions.
  • Sound = When objects vibrate, they make particles in the air vibrate, sending energy waves traveling to our ears, which we hear as sounds.
  • Heat = Hot things have more energy than cool ones, because the particles inside them jiggle around more quickly.
  • Electrical = Electricity is energy carried by charged particles called electrons moving through wires.
  • Light = Light travels at high speed and in a straight lines. Like radio waves and x-rays, it’s a type of electromagnetic energy.
  • Kinetic = moving things have kinetic energy. The heavier and faster they are the more kinetic energy they have.

 

New and Old Technology

  •  In the past there was bigger computers, it would have taken your whole bedroom, the computers had to be that big because the micro chip was very big! Now there's computers smaller than the palm of your hand! And the microchips are way smaller than that, and they have to only put a small amount of electrons, anymore and the chip can go to flames. Now an EMP is extremely dangerous because our technology is everything now! We even pay online and talk online.

 

Subatomic Particles

  • Electrons = particles that have a negative charge people  run electrons through wires because they can power things.
  • Protons = Are particles that have a positive charge they do not power anything and they normally stick to the neutron in the nucleus the electron circles them.
  • Neutrons =  Have no charge and they don’t power anything and stick to the protons in the nucleus as the electron circles them.

 

Layers of an Atom

  • There are different layers in an atom: Buried layer, Conduction layer, and Valence layer. The higher the electron is in the layers the more easily it can get knocked out.
  • Valence = is the most easily to knock out the electron in the atom, silver, copper, and gold are the best conductors because one of their atoms are on the valence layer.
  • Conduction = is the second layer of an atom, it is harder to knock it out so first you have to knock it into the valence then you can knock it out. There is 8 electrons in the conductive layer.
  • Buried layer = This is the third layer you cannot knock out the electrons out at this point, there is 2 electrons in this layer.

 

Positive and Negative Charges

  • Protons have a positive charge, electrons have a negative charge.
  • Protons and electrons want to stick together.
  • If you rub a neutral wool sweater to a neutral balloon, the sweater will be negative and the balloon will be positive and they'll stick on each other.
  • Electrons float around the atom.
  • Protons stick with neutrons in the nucleus.
  • Electrons can create a magnetic field if they're "Moving".
  • A electron can be on its own, a proton cant.
  • Electrons flow in a current.
  • Protons cannot flow in a current because they're stuck with the atom.

 

Conductive and Insulators

  • Conductors let electrons flow through them (Humans, Trees, Water droplets, Copper etc.)
  • Insulators do not allow electrons to go through (Glass, Plastic, Rubber etc.)
  • In a circuit we normally use conductors but to protect our self's then we put an insulating rubber around the copper wire.

 

Electric Magnetic Force

  • Energy is caused by force lets say if a hand is pushing something and someone asks why does that happen well you would say "Well my muscles compressed and that was chemical energy." but what if that person kept asking then we will get to a point were we wont be able to answer because we don’t have the answer so we will just say Electromagnetic Force.
  • A electromagnetic force is caused by a physical interaction that occurs between two charged particles
  • It also acts between particles that are charged it's also a combination of all magnetic and electrical forces.
  • It can be attractive or repulsive.

 

Grounding/ Earth, Wire and Fuses

  • If you want to have a faraday cage then you need to ground it.
  • To ground something it means to have a piece of something conductive leading to the ground so you will be safe.
  • Fuses are there (in circuits) in case if there is an overload of electrons that they go through that first.
  • In an outlet are 3 holes, the bottom one is the grounding hole that most cords don’t have that piece to put in.

 

E.M.P/ Solar Flares

  • E.M.Ps are basically extremely big magnetic waves
  • E.M.Ps are a sudden surge of electrons.
  • E.M.Ps are most likely to start world war lll.
  • An E.M.P destroys, fries or makes an electronics stop working for a couple of hours.

 

Voltage

  • Is a way of measuring the speed of electric current.
  • The common symbols of voltage: V, Triangle V, U, Triangle U
  • Is how fast the electric current is going.
  • Voltage is also known as electric pressure, electric tension, or electric potential difference.
  • The electric charge between two points are called a build up.
  • The volt was named after a physicist, Alessandro Volta who was Italian. He invented the chemical battery.

 

Carrington Event

  • The Carrington Event was the most severe geomagnetic storm, it was peaking on the 1st and 2nd of September in 1859 during the solar cycle 10.
  •  It created long vibrant arouras on our poles, at the time.
  • It even caused fires in some of our telegraphic stations.
  • In history most people say it was most likely a result of a coronal mass ejection from the sun colliding with earths magnetosphere.
  • The Carrington Event was recorded by British Astronomers, Richard Carrington and Richard Hodgson.
  • If a solar flare were to happen today at the same magnitude then it would cause serious damage.                                                                          

Variables

Manipulated Variables

  • Distance
  1. Distance from effected object and distance on the circuit.
  • Strength and size of magnetic field
  • Resistance
  • Pulse frequency
  • Interfering magnetic fields

Controlled Variables

  • The LEDs color could vary but since we stuck to red it is controlled.

 

Responing Variables

  • What will happen to thr LEDs when I bing an interfering magnetic field.

Procedure

Procedure

  • Attempt 1:

The plan:

  1. I would buy a battery attach the battery to a small servo motor so we could power it our second option for powering the motor was moving the hand crank.

 

  1. Secondly we were going to  attach the motor to an AC generator to the circuit then we were going to put in the amp meter and a volt meter to check how much amps and volts are,

 

  1. Thirdly, what were going to do was put a transformer in the middle of the circuit then we were going to put a different set of amp meters and volt meters, after at the end we were going to do attach a LED,

 

  1. Nothing in the experiment is to scale with magnetic field power or as big as a real E.M.P.

 

  • Attempt 2:
    1.  Firstly I will build a circuit to replicate a city's power grid so when we bring a magnet it will act as a E.M.P. That I will have a circuit (AC current) we will put adapter that will first loose some voltage second turn it into DC.
    2.  Secondly I will Put a speed controller to turn the current into AC also loosing some voltage now it should be safe to "Play with". After, I will put 5 resistors one more OHM then the last and LEDs, after that I will put  a transformer.
    3. Thirdly, I could always end it there but my other option will be put 5 of the same resistors and LEDs and then ground it. I will do this adapter and speed controller stuff so it is safe to "play" with the voltage and electricity.

 

  • Attempt 3: The last circuit can go both currents AC and DC so we can ether plug an AC adapter or an DC adapter.
    1. First, were supposed to plug the voltage regulator into the adapter then plug the voltage regulator into the speed controller we didn't have  to plug in the speed controller but we did because we want the circuit to pulse we want to see the pulse in the LEDs.
    2. Secondly, after the speed controller we put a motherboard and attached 5 resistors which are the following: 1000, 5000, 10 000, 100 000, 1 000 000. And then 5 LEDs after the resistors when we finished building that part we put a transformer after the first mini circuit, then  just as an act as an extra signal to check if the field is working on one side, my dad put a screw driver and wrapped a copper (insulated) wire around.
    3. Lastly, we will build the same circuit as same on but a different setting of resistors which are the following: 1000, 5000, 10 000, 100 000, and then 10 we put that to see if the magnetic field is working in the other circuit.

 

 

New Version Materials

  • Lots of Copper Wire
  • 3 adapters: 1. DC 120v - 12v, 2. AC 120v - 12v, 3, DC 120v - 12v.
  • Voltage Regulator (DC)
  • Speed Controller(DC)
  • 2 Circuit Boards
  • 5 Resistors on one: 1000, 5000, 10 000, 100 000, 1 000 000 OHMs
  • 5 LEDs
  • 5 little cords to attach onto other things
  • 6 Resistors on the Other: 10, 1000, 5000, 10 000, 100 000, 1 000 000
  • 1 Transformer (One small piece, 1 bigger piece)
  • Little Screw Driver Wrapped in Copper Wire

 

 

Observations

Observations

  1. Show magnetic field demonstration
    • Since the magnetic field is very strong it controls the iron shavings to bend in the form of the magnetic field as I was moving the magnet, the iron shavings were attracted to the magnet and followed the magnetic field.
  2. Demonstration with Tesla Coil and Sensitive Neon Light
    • When we turned on the Tesla Coil and brought the screw driver close to the hyper active electrons that are floating there, they immediately arch to the screw driver to make the jump.
    • When I brought the sensitive neon light bulb that was not plugged in at all, it lit up when it was near the Tesla coil.
  3. DC Volt and Amp Meter Testing
    • When I brought the two meter probes to the power cords at the start of the circuit, the voltage was 14.46.
    • When I brought the two meter probes to the voltage regulator the voltage was 11.74.
  4. Iron Shavings
    • When I put the iron shavings container on top of my transformer you could not see the magnetic field.
  5. Magnet Screw Driver Testing
    • When I made the screw driver hover close to the first (small coil) part of the transformer, it stuck on it, but not very hard.
    • When I made the screw driver hover over the second (large coil) part, the magnetic field was weaker.
    • When I made the screw driver hover near the other screw driver with a small coil wrapped around it (electro magnetized) it stuck similar to when it stuck to the first small part of the transformer.
  6. Tesla Coil with Neon Sensitive Lights and Normal LEDs
    • The first bag was full of sensitive lights (neon lights) so when I turned on the Tesla Coil and brought out the lights, they turned an orange colour, but the older lights did not light up because they were not built to be as sensitive.
    • The second bag was full of colourful LEDs. They were not built to be as sensitive, but since the Tesla coil was super powerful it turned them on anyway. Some of them turned on and off because they're not as sensitive
  7. DC E.M.P Attack
    • When I put the "E.M.P" on top of the speed controller it turns the little LED on the speed controller off and then all the LEDs on the first circuit turn off.
    • When I brought the E.M.P to the first half of the transformer it did nothing to the second circuit. Then when I brought it to the second half of the transformer,  it lit up the LED that needs 10 volts and lit the one that needed 1000 volts (On the second circuit).
    • Then I took the "E.M.P" and put it near the last set of LEDs and it effected them the most. If I brought the  "E.M.P" to the first LED (1000V) it made that one bright but not the brightest, and it made the one furthest from it (10V) very bright. When I brought it to the other side of the circuit, it made the one closest to it dim (10V) and the one farthest (1000V) from it very bright.

Voltage Readings

 

 

 

 

 

 

Location

AC

w/TC

 

DC (V)

w/TC

 

Power Source

8.9

8.9

 

14.14

14.53

 

Voltage Regulator

NA

NA

 

11.74

11.74

 

Speed Controller

NA

NA

 

3.56

4.06

After peak voltage, it plummeted to 0 and cut out completely.

Circuit 1

8.7

8.7

 

3.56

3.67

 

LEDs (resistors)

 

 

 

 

 

 

1k Ω

5.3

6.2

 

0.51

  • 0.35

Peak reading among erratic readings

5k Ω

5.4

4.9

 

0.45

-1.65

 

10k Ω

5.3

3.4

 

0.36

-1.38

 

100k Ω

5.2

3.4

 

0.6

-1.09

 

1m Ω

4.8

1.2

 

0.82

-1.84

 

Transformer

 

 

 

 

 

 

Primary (smaller) Coil

8.0

8.1

 

2.24

2.29

 

Secondary (Larger) Coil (step up)

4.7

5.2

 

0.0

-0.51

 

Primary Coil (larger)

15.4

15.4

Reversing transformer seemed to demand much more voltage thru circuit one.

3.54

3.70

Voltage increased in the opposite direction in DC flow.

Secondary (smaller) Coil (step down)

0.4

0.6

 

0.0

0.04

 

Circuit 2

4.7

3.6

Peak reading, not erratic

 

 

 

LEDs (resistors)

 

 

Sources of Error: Readings depending on distance of TC from reading source.

 

 

Sources of Error : Erratic readings depending on distance of TC from reading source.

1k Ω

3.9

3.2

Peak reading is not at nearest point.

0.0

-1.19

Lit up LED

5k Ω

3.8

0.9

 

0.0

-7.47

Bulb optimum voltage range 2-2.2V

10k Ω

3.8

0.7

 

0.0

-2.3

 

100k Ω

3.8

0.2

 

0.0

-4.43

 

1m Ω

3.4

0.3

 

0.0

-2.68

 

10 Ω

4.0

4.0

 

0.0

0.1

Abnormal 

 

 

Presentation:

https://youtu.be/N9uX_ip2Erg?si=U-fXG8QlltE8nsx8

 

Experiments:

1. Magnetic Field Demo​:

https://youtu.be/spwE3saim34?si=-aatuLJdYkRfGH_O

2. Tesla Coil Demo​:

https://youtu.be/A-ejzL_lrEE?si=lHMy2Fl8zpUBSPRd

3. DC Circuit:

https://youtu.be/9snarXzeWF8?si=N39wnkx77z7qciq6

4. AC Circuit​:

https://youtu.be/SMbohNJw4a0?si=K3vtTBsLmxqhCC-4

5. Tesla Coil vs Lights (independent)​:

https://youtu.be/Ze5tFflf1Mk?si=wSbzzq5bSnrpejfO

6. Tesla Coil vs AC​:

https://youtu.be/9lWGwEQVyds?si=YJE4fJNyxrXsBKG_

7. Tesla Coil vs DC​:

https://youtu.be/BcqTaZekzQM?si=qf9LgXlz2UZJac7h

8. Tesla Coil vs Faraday Bags (lights and circuit)​:

 

 

 

 

Analysis

 

  • EMP Attack on AC Circuit
    • When I took the E.M.P to the power source it did not effect the LEDs.
    • When I got the EMP to be over the first circuit it made the light bulbs that were dim turn on because the EMP made the electrons in the LEDs excited to cause light and heat energy.
    • Then I brought it over to the primary coil of the transformer it did not have any effect on the second circuit but when I brought it over to the secondary transformer coil it started to light up the lights that were off on the secondary circuit because I was amplifying how the voltage coming out of the transformer. However it did not light up the LEDs on the primary circuit from this location. It seems the break in the transformer affects the effect "down stream" or "upstream" of the circuits. I can't be sure if this is because the EMP power is not as strong as a nuclear EMP or solar flare. But for this experiment the transformer can act as a protection from the other side of the transformer.
  • EMP Attack of AC and DC compared:
    • Both showed drops in voltage across the LEDs
    • DC showed more voltage change and negative voltage readings (opposite direction)
    • DC showed more erratic readings while AC showed more stable readings
    • There were 2 consisted repeated anomalies:
      • On the DC secondary circuit, the 10 Ohm LED showed a positive but small voltage change compared to the other LEDS which showed large negative voltage readings. This is the lowest resistance.
      • On the AC secondary circuit, the 1,000 Ohm  LEDs showed the biggest voltage change at a middle distance from the LED, not at the closest distance. For the experiment, normally the largest effect came from the Tesla Coil closest to the object.
  • Faraday Bags (for protection)
    • The purpose of testing the Faraday bags was to find other protection against an EMP, and discover more properties of an EMP. Research informed that the Faraday bag / cage must be fully sealed, grounded and in some cases double layered to be most effective.
      • When testing the independent LEDs and (sensitive) Neon lights, which are representing electronic devices not on a power grid, like a cell phone, these lights were protected from the EMP even though the bag was not grounded or sealed from the 4th side. I thought that because I was holding the bag, maybe I was acting as the ground, but the result was the same when the bag was placed on a wooden tray (insulator).
      • When testing the second circuit of the "power grid", the non-grounded bag could not protect the LED lights from the EMP effect as in the first (off grid) scenario. When the bag was grounded, the LEDs were protected at that location, however when the EMP was located at the secondary transformer coil (up stream), the bag could not protect the LEDs as the effect was carried through the wires to the LEDs from outside and then into bag directly. A fully sealed bag would not protect against this. This means a device plugged into the power grid even within a home acting as a possible Faraday cage would not be safe from an EMP far away that affected the power grid.
      • In both test scenarios the 4th side of the bag was open to be consistent and allow the detection of the LED lights by eye and for the video recording. A difference was detected between the two scenarios was detected and not fully able to be explained, possibly because the EMP field is not very strong. It seems correct that to make the protection more effective the Faraday bag / cage does need to be fully sealed, and grounded at a minimum
  • Show Magnetic Field Demonstration:
    • We saw the magnetic field because the iron shavings acted upon the magnetic field, the magnetic field is invisible to the naked eye but you can use iron shavings to see the affect, power, and shape of the magnetic field.
    • It was not clear why the Tesla Coil did not show a magnetic field using the iron shavings test.
  • Demonstration with Tesla Coil and Neon Lights
    • What happened was the electrons in the neon (gas) light were still, but when you bring them to tesla coil the electrons in it start to become active and then it lights up! I was informed this was very sensitive to magnetic fields and electron excitement. However no source was able to confirm if the small Tesla coil could light up regular LEDs or LEDs with resistors.
  • Tesla Coil with Neon Lights and LEDs
    • When I put the first bag (with sensitive neon lights) all the sensitive lights lit up because  the Tesla's magnetic field made the electrons in the sensitive lights excited and glow but with the older versions (incandescent) of the lights they did not turn on because they are not sensitive.
    • The second bag (with normal LEDs) lit up also because they are not as sensitive as the neon lights but the Tesla's magnetic field was stronger and lit them up.
    • The LEDs were arranged with ramped resistors to create a sort of in-circuit responsive meter. If LEDs with higher resistance lit up, then this would mean they are showing more voltage generated from the Tesla Coil magnetic field. The experiment indicated both through the LEDs lighting up and multimeter readings that as the Tesla Coil gets closer, the magnetic field creates more voltage at that location.
  • Mullite Meter
    • We could see the how much volts and amps were  going threw because the special measurement settings can read how much volts and amps go threw there in this case 1 amp, and 12 volts as the control power supply.
  • Iron Shavings (Transformer)
    • You could not see the transformers magnetic field because the DCs current isn't strong enough, it is easier with AC is because the transformer is continuously flipping the north and south poles that’s why the iron shavings dance.
  • Magnet Screw Driver Testing
    • On the first half of the transformer I hovered the screw beside the iron core and when I did it stuck pretty well on but if you apply a bit more force then it would come off easily.
    • When I hovered near the other half (secondary coil) of the transformer iron core the field was weaker, because the transformer is loosing some voltage while stepping it up or down due to inefficiency.
    • After, I brought the screw driver to the other one(induced magnet being used as a signal of current in the secondary circuit) and the little magnets field was stronger then the second half's of the transformer magnetic field. This indicated the transformer was working and creating current in the secondary circuit even though the LEDS were not lighting up. The Voltage was likely too low.
  • EMP Attack on DC Circuit
    • When we brought over the "EMP" above the speed controller the lights turned it off.
      • What was interesting was that the speed controller turned off after showing a peak spike in voltage, but as the "EMP" got closer, the voltage dropped down to zero, turning the voltage and circuit off.
      • Peak voltage spike was not at the closest point of the EMP to the speed controller. I am not able to explain why this is.
    • When I brought the EMP over to the primary transformer it did not do anything to the second circuit.
    • For the last circuit when I got the EMP and hovered it near there, the LEDs the LED that needed 1000 OHMs lit up and the one that needed 10 OHMs lit up brighter than the 1000 OHMs, but when I brought the EMP that to the 10 OHMs it went dim and the 1000 OHMs lit up bright.
    • The effect of the EMP caused negative voltage readings which could mean, reverse electron flow, against the direct current flow in only 1 direction!!! This could damage DC electronics!

 

Conclusion

  • To correct my hypothesis:
    • The EMP did disturb the magnetic field and excited the LEDs that were off while also affecting the LEDs that were not as bright with higher resistant. However the readings were erratic, and differed between the AC and DC circuits with greater affect on the DC current; in fact it caused negative voltage readings which could mean reversed electron flow (as I thought) in a direct current scenario! The electrons could have been pushed backwards!
      • This did not cause the LEDs to turn off, even though as I learned that LEDs only work in 1 direction! This could mean that the DC flow was turned into a competing back and forth AC flow due to the EMP pulses! This simulates what I thought but many times per second.
    • My hypothesis was correct that the secondary circuit showed less power than the primary circuit and in the case of the DC scenario (with the speed controller), the secondary circuit showed no power. But both scenarios were affected by the EMP. It was more clear in the DC scenario but the AC scenario the transformer worked better. I later learned that transformers do not work at all with DC current, but I attempted to make it work with a speed controller (this is meant to pulse the DC flow but only in 1 direction still).
    • So due to the failure to create a current in the secondary circuit, I redesigned the schematic to an AC power supply and tested both scenarios with the EMP.
    • Originally I thought the EMP could be simulated by a standard steady state magnet and by moving my hand fast enough, I could replicate an EMP "pulse" within 1 second as my research suggested the timeline of an EMP. The steady magnet had no effect on the circuit at all, in both scenarios! I was advised that the only way to create an EMP was to create a pulsing magnetic field, that the creation and collapse of the magnetic field is what creates pulsed electric field and current flow. I then tried a small kit Tesla Coil with an estimated 10k to 50k V but safe amount of amps so I wouldn't electrocute myself. This Tesla Coil creates pulses through storing and adding up small voltage amounts until it "bursts" and then repeating this many times per second. This creates a rapid pulsing magnetic field which is more than a single nuclear EMP pulse but could be closer to a solar flare pulsing over much greater period of time such as days! To try and create a larger pulsing magnetic field would be too dangerous for me and this experiment.
    • This experiment needed to change and adapt to new complex research and knowledge which is also considered quite secret due to military applications. The information available at my level is confusing, conflicting, and incomplete. It is also confused with a lot of pop-culture / fiction / drama, so part of the purpose of this experiment was to understand how to be protected from an EMP nuclear strike or solar flare. I also tested Faraday bags as effective protection when learning through research and experiments that the effects of EMPs are variable due to factors such as: distance, strength of field, interference of other magnetic fields (which can make it multiplied), or shielding. The Faraday bag in this experiment was effective and several options for protection were found such as: unplugging a device from the grid, and often forgotten is the grounding of the Faraday cage / bag!

Application

In the event of an EMP first strike in WW3:

  • Watching Your Devices
    • What you should  do before an EMP strike is have a special room that is completely isolated from the internet and the power grid. Then in the room there should be a faraday cage where your electronics should potentially be stored so if you get any quick warning of an EMP strike you know what to do, or you can already keep your electronics in there so when you want to use them you take them out. But most likely there will be no warning because the EMP will effect the communications, so just in advance I recommend putting your electronics in a faraday cage.
    • The threat to any device is not just interruption the device, itself could be over loaded due to a voltage surge and or could be fried.
  • Your Info
    •  If your information is in a cloud then you should make sure that your data servers are in a low risk area, or not considered a target by a enemy where it is out of the radius of were an EMP. Do you know where your Microsoft, google or amazon cloud servers are located? Is it safer than your location?
  • For Example
    • A modern car with sensitive micro chips could be protected and turned into a faraday cage by dragging a grounding wire. Or, always parking it in your faraday garage.

 

In the event of a major solar flare:

  • Location is not a protection against a solar flare, only a strong enough shield made before hand and already placed is one. This would have to be perhaps a double faraday cage properly built and grounded. Because we monitor solar flares we may have some warning.

Sources Of Error

Potential Sources of Error

  • Efficiency of transformer (design, materials)
    • Iron core
    • Winding of wire
  • Quality of connections:
    • Soldering
    • Connectors
    • Meter prods
  • Power limit for safety:
    • 12V
    • 1A
  • Unknown frequency of pulses - do not match single EMP from nuclear explosion, however it could be more similar to a solar flare which may last for up to several days. We could not confirm frequency of solar flare pulses:
    • Speed controller (DC)
    • Tesla Coil capacitor
  • Hand control, movement, placement consistency
  • Using induced magnet as a signal (for current within circuit) - Induced magnet remains magnetised after circuit was turned off
  • Scale of simulated power grid
    • Physical size / distance
    • Voltage output
    • Magnetic field generated by EMP strike or solar flare interacting with the Earth's magnetosphere
  • Digital meters are slower to indicate rapid reading changes

 

 

Assumptions

  • LEDs are a reasonable representation / analog for an electronic device on a power grid.
  • DC speed controller could replicate AC/DC pulses.
  • The Tesla coil generates a strong magnetic field (based on research) although I could not detect it through using iron shavings.

 

 

Omissions

  • I did not end up recreating a generator (servo motor and hand crank) as I was advised it would not generate enough voltage to power the LEDs.
  • Digital in-circuit meters because they require a minimum of 2.5V to power the display screen and only show Voltage over 2.5V and also register readings to slowly to show sudden changes.

 

Citations

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Acknowledgement

  • My father:
    • Gathering and paying for all materials
    • Assisting with software:
      • MS Excel (Graph creation)
      • MS Note
      • Adobe Illustrator (presentation planning)
      • Adobe Photoshop (Imaging preparation)
      • Bing AI Image generator
    • Circuit design and build (for safety)
    • Soldering
    • Build Tesla Coil kit
    • Supervision for safety
    • Video recording and editing
    • Research recommendations
    • Proof reading
  • Mother:
    • Proof reading
    • Printing
  • Sales people at Active Tech Electronics
    • Circuit design and sourcing parts
    • Electronic device
    • Recommended Tesla Coil after steady state magnet failed to produce any effect