Emp And Hemp: How They Affect Us And How To Prepare

[SheepDog]

If this is not the best place for this please feel free to move it where it will best serve the forum.

Let me start by telling you I have been doing research on these two very different processes since the early 70s. It has been a challenge because even some of the "experts" have been lied to. I will start with the "natural" process of solar EMP. Solar EMPs are caused by sun sneezes and solar farts. Solar farts are just solar flares that are kicked into space all the time by stray magnetic fields on the suns surface. They vary in size and strength and usually only affect either the northern hemisphere or the southern hemisphere. why only one hemisphere? because it all depends on the polarity of the emissions from the sun. These solar flares are rarely big enough to cause big problems but they can cause local spikes in the electrical grids. There have been three rather small outages in North America caused by solar flares. As I recall they were all on the Northeast coastal areas. The spikes trip breakers and the outage cascades for a short time and results in southern Quebec down to New York having a three day black out while they trace it back and replace the safety breakers. They are inconvenient but not a severe threat.

Solar sneezes are Coronal Mass Ejections (CME) and they are caused by the sun sneezing out a few earth mass mass of its corona. These are not just a cloud of electrons or protons, a CME is a chunk of the suns surface. They are tossed away from the sun due to magnetic explosions under the surface and then accelerated with the help of the surface magnetic lines. These huge masses of solar atmosphere travel at speeds up to a million miles an hour or slightly faster. They cover the distance from the sun to the Earth in from 72 to 93 hours. These clouds of atmosphere can cover an area as large as the distance from the orbit of Venus to the orbit of the Earth. They are HUGE! The saving grace is that they have to be ejected at a time and location on the sun so their path will hit the Earth as it orbits the sun. That is a really small target even for the size of the ejection. The bad part is that the Earth and sun are connected by magnetic lines of force that can guide the flares and CME to Earth over a 90 degree arc. While these eruptions are more rare than the flares they are, or can be a big problem.

The Earth has three shields against both the flares and the CME that head our way. The first is the two layers of the Van Allen Radiation Belts that surround us. They can partially deflect these monsters around the Earth. The second is our magnetic field. It directs the part that gets through the Van Allen Belt toward the poles of the Earth. The last line of defense is our atmosphere. It can slow down the particles that get past the first two defenses and absorb most of the radiation. when the flare or CME is big enough it can overwhelm the magnetic field and cause it to twist on itself and SNAP back into a new alignment. That causes currents to be induced into long conductors that carry our electric power from site to site and state to state. The longer the wire is the more current it carries. Those wires will try to carry that current to a ground right up to the point that the heat produced by that current starts to melt the wires. At the same time the current is induced into the long wires that are wound to make the large transformers and generators that produce our power and convert it to voltages that are usable by the end user. While the wires are bursting into flames so are the generators and power transformers at the transfer stations.

Left to nature it will destroy the very production of power as well as our ability to transfer that power around the globe. Remember that at this level this will affect the entire northern or southern hemisphere and not just one continent or country. It takes about two years to make a large transformer and about three years to make a generator. We don't keep spares around because of the expense and we don't have manufacturers here in the USA that make them either. Japan and Germany are the two big suppliers of this type of equipment. It takes a lot of power to produce the components and assemble these devices. If the power is down around the northern hemisphere there won't be any power to make the replacements. The good news is that some countries are adding electronic fast switches to protect the grid and we are one of those countries. We have only begun the process and have a long way to go to completely protect the grid from Solar EMP but it is a start. we also could disconnect the grid (power it down) for the two to three days that the CME will be a problem but that will cripple industry and the entire area without electricity. It is also very expensive due to the loss in revenue to the grid suppliers. You can see why there might be reluctance to shut it down on a bet that it might destroy the grid if you leave it up and running. As individuals we can throw the breakers and separate ourselves from the grid to protect our appliances from any spikes but that probably isn't necessary (although I have done it a couple of times) because the transformers on the utility pole will act like fuses and blow before the power can get to your home. Even if you did save all your appliances you will be left with no power to run them unless you have a20 to 30 year cache of fuel and a generator to run your house.
You can prepare for a Solar EMP by using an off grid photo-voltaic or wind turbine that powers your home. If it is connected to the grid it will suffer the same fate as the rest of the grid but if it is a true stand alone system it will be safe when the grid collapses on itself.

Ok, that briefly covers the suns farts and sneezes. I will write about the "man made" EMPs later.

 

[bargeahead]

Very well explained THX.

 

[robin416]

I like the way you explained them, without all the complexity that the pocket protector group seems not to be able to avoid.

 

[SheepDog]

OK, here is part two - HEMP components, how they work and attached (E1shield.pdf) is the protective shield and why it works and others do not.
From: http://modernsurvivalblog.com/emp-e...r-emp-components-e1-e2-e3-and-what-they-mean/

HEMP Components E1, E2, E3, what they are and what they do
Informational sources include FutureScience.com, Wikipedia, empcommission.org


Note: The effects of an HEMP detonation depend on the altitude of the detonation, its energy yield, gamma ray output, the interactions with the Earth’s magnetic field,and the shielding of targets.

E1 Pulse of an HEMP
The E1 pulse is the first of three pulse components of a nuclear EMP, and is very fast. This initial pulse is very short in duration but is a very intense electrical field that induces very high voltages in the air around electrical conductors, semiconductors — ‘solid-state’ electronics, microchips and integrated circuits.

E1 causes most of its damage by causing the ‘electrical breakdown’ voltages of semiconductors to be exceeded.

What causes the E1 pulse?
E1 is produced when gamma radiation from the nuclear detonation ionizes (strips electrons from) atoms in the atmosphere. The electrons travel in a generally downward direction at nearly the speed of light. The Earth’s magnetic field deflects the electron flow at a right angle to the field, and this interaction produces a very large, but very brief, electrical pulse over the affected area and into the ground to a depth of about 30 meters.

How fast is the E1 pulse?
In case you were wondering, the E1 pulse occurs far too quickly for ordinary surge protectors to be effective. The pulse may rise to its peak value in .5 nanoseconds (0.0000000005 seconds). To put that in perspective, ‘the blink of an eye’ takes about 300 milliseconds (0.300 seconds).

How strong is the E1 pulse?
The E1 pulse near ground level at moderately high latitudes may reach peaks of over 50,000 volts per meter!

The strength of the pulse depends upon the number and intensity of the gamma rays, and upon the rapidity of the gamma ray burst. Strength and affected area is also dependent upon altitude. The higher the detonation the more area is affected.

Its magnitude typically decays to half of its peak value within 200 nanoseconds and ends 1000 nanoseconds after it begins (1 millisecond).

E2 Pulse of a Nuclear EMP
The E2 component effect has similarities to lightning.

What causes the E2 pulse?
The E2 component is generated by scattered gamma rays produced by neutrons.

How fast is the E2 pulse?
E2 lasts from about 1 microsecond after the explosion to 1 second after. So it’s rather slow (comparatively), about 1 second.

How strong is the E2 pulse?
Apparently substantially less than that of lightning but it covers the entire area simultaneously.

E2 is generally considered to be the easiest to protect against.

It’s mostly irrelevant though because since E2 immediately follows E1, the devices will probably already be ‘toast’ so the standard lightning protection won’t be functional.

The EMP Commission Executive Report of 2004 states, “In general, it (E2) would not be an issue for critical infrastructure systems since they have existing protective measures for defense against occasional lightning strikes. The most significant risk is synergistic, because the E2 component follows a small fraction of a second after the first component’s assault, which has the ability to impair or destroy many protective and control features.”

E3 Pulse of a Nuclear EMP
The E3 component is slow and it is the only part of the blast effects that is truly an EMP.

What causes the E3 pulse?
It is caused by the nuclear detonation’s temporary distortion of the Earth’s magnetic field and has similarities to a geomagnetic storm caused by a solar flare or CME but it is concentrated over a limited area.

How fast is the E3 pulse?
E3 lasts from tens of seconds to hundreds of seconds depending on the blast yield and the altitude.

How strong is the E3 pulse?
Like a geomagnetic storm, E3 can produce geomagnetically induced currents in long electrical conductors, damaging components such as power lines, transformers and generators (although a geomagnetic storm, or ‘Solar EMP’ does not have an E1 or E2 components).

Interestingly, a nuclear weapon designed to be used as an EMP weapon (smaller, simple and efficient) is generally poor at producing an effective E3. Whereas thermonuclear weapons (hydrogen bombs) are very inefficient at generating the fast-rise-time E1 pulse, they are much better at generating the slower geomagnetic-storm-like E3 pulse – which induce large currents in long electrical lines. The more efficient the nuclear device the fewer free gamma particles are produced but the amount of material and placement of internal shielding can make up for the efficiency providing a similar E1 pulse to that of a smaller , less efficient, bomb.

Conclusion
The E1 pulse of a nuclear EMP weapon is what will do the most damage. While it is relatively easy to protect against E2 and E3 (‘easy’ is a relative term), it is quite difficult (or impossible) to effectively protect against E1 for functioning electronic systems. It is just as disastrous to semiconductors and ICs on the shelf in some warehouse.

Note: A ‘Faraday Cage’ enclosure will not protect (shield) electronic and semiconductor equipment which may be stored for the purpose of having backups for external systems which themselves may be exposed while functioning day to day.

I had researched and discovered the information above while deciding how best to protect my PV solar panel system and a laptop to view my saved data from EMP. To that end, I have inserted what I expect to be adequate protection for E1, while E3 and E2 should not be an issue. E1 however is THE problem. Even the best and fastest surge protectors that I have installed will not clamp down quickly enough to stop the potential damage from E1. Therefore the issue does not become one of protection (of the functioning system), but one of ‘backup’ components… stored in a true E1 shield.

The included E1Shield.PDF shows a reasonably good shield to use and why it works. I have also included a table of insulators with their dielectric strengths.

 

[skittles]

@SheepDog

What I worry about is all the houses that are connected to the grid will all burn down if we get hit with a large enough EMP. The 1856 solar storm burned down telegraph houses nationwide from what I understand... why wouldn't all the grid-tied houses burn down because of the same reason?

 

[SheepDog]

Houses won't likely burn, the transformers will blow before the power can get to the homes. The major substation are the most likely places for fires but long stretches of power lines could start fires too. The old telegraph receivers were connected directly to the long transmission lines. That started fires around the receiving coils and the paper roll connected to it. Now everything goes through transformers before it gets close to residences.

 

[skittles]

@SheepDog

That is true. Just hope that the electricity won't arc through all the transformers and burn up the houses.

On an aside I also think about the fact that Nikola Tesla figured out a way to make a antenna in a car power a electric motor in the car just from the fields that are already all around the earth. If he could do that with a little antenna in a car from the fields that are already here... what would happen when we get hit with a superpower field?

 

[Tirediron]

I forgot to thank you for this thread Sheepdog, the pdf s are of great help in planning

 

[idragrace]

Thank you SheepDog. This is a great explanation for the common man with simple guides for protecting small electronics. Any ideas how this shield can be built large enough to protect large equipment such as cars, tractors, garden tillers by the average prepper?

 

[SheepDog]

If you are going to be using the vehicle it is nearly impossible to protect it. A single room can be protected as long as there is no power or plumbing in it but you have to have shielding, three layers of it, on all six sides and the door has to be contiguous with all three layers when closed. To do that with a garage would cost many thousands of dollars. I opted to have older, carbureted, cars and keep the parts required to repair the alternators in protection so I could replace them. Understand though that if we are hit with a high altitude EMP (HEMP) there won't be any fuel, oil, grease or other things required to maintain the vehicle anyway. It would be wiser to accumulate the implements to use animals to replace the heavy machinery. A good plow with extra blades, cultivator and disk would be a lot cheaper and work longer than any vehicle. Horses and mules can be used to work the fields, for transportation and eventually for food. They produce good quality fertilizer too. I don't see any vehicle being of much use a month after an HEMP. Even the military will have limited fuel and reserve supplies to keep their vehicles running. Everything would have to be imported in a refined state and the cost would be way out of sight.
Protecting your electronic information is easy but using it will require power. The new Lithium batteries are loaded with electronics so they have to be stored in a shielded environment too. It makes for a very complex life. It really is best to plan for no power and no fuel with the exception of alcohol. Even that will be of limited use because there won't be oil to change the lubricants in your vehicles and generators.
We are talking about decades after the HEMP before utilities are back up and operating at any useful levels.

 

[idragrace]

Looks like I need to add more hand tools to the prepping list. Thanks SheepDog. This is a great, simple to understand informative article on HEMP.

 

[DrPrepper]

Sheepdog,
Thank you- this is probably the best explanation of EMP that I've seen and is so helpful to me. I have a question about the dielectric values. I am assuming that the higher the strength, the better. Is that correct? If I am understanding this properly, if I have equipment to be protected wrapped in polypropylene, then wrapped in aluminum foil, then another polypropylene wrap, then more tin foil, then another wrap and a final layer of foil, wrapping the whole bundle in more polypropylene and then sealed in an airtight metal box, that would be a 4 layer capacitor and should keep the equipment somewhat safe, right?

 

[SheepDog]

The added wrap of polypropylene and metal (I'm thinking steel box) is of little value. Any metal other than gold, silver, copper and aluminum has so much resistance that the E1 spike will go through before it can get around it. Steel has four times the resistance that aluminum does. It takes longer for the electrical pulse to move across the steel than it takes to go through the steel and penetrate the insulation material. Capacitors use really good conductors. Your thinking is logical and if the box is made of the right material it would add another layer and add to the protection. The reason that good conductors are used is that each layer has to become saturated before the next layer starts to saturate. Given enough time it wouldn't matter how many layers you had the stuff on the inside would eventually become charged too. The fact that we have only about 500 nanoseconds to charge all the plates is what saves the electronics from the voltage. It dissipates completely in less than a millisecond. your idea is fine and you can use it as long as you have the three (actually four) layers of protection inside. It will add a fractional bit of time so it would help but less than another layer of insulator and heavy foil.
Yes, you understand the dielectric strength just fine. It is rated per mil so if you have a sheet that is .005" thick and the dielectric strength is 5000V then you have complete protection to 5 times 5000 or 25000 volts. (sort of) Even without leakage the next plate will begin to charge but it does so in the opposite polarity. After it saturates the next plate is charging and so on. Each layer takes time. We are just slowing down the speed of the pulse so it dissipates before it affects the last plate which is your electronic gear inside the first layer of insulator. Be sure to fold and tape any openings in the polypropylene insulator - air tight is best but water tight is OK.

on page three of the PDF labeled "E1Shield.PDF" in post #4 shows the kind of fold for foil but if you are using a sheet or bag that is open at one or more sides use the same fold and secure it with packaging tape. (don't use duct tape - it is conductive)

 

[Meerkat]

I agree SheepD this is very good info and easy to understand . Thanks.

 

[SheepDog]

Thank you all!
I studied this from all kinds of documentation and weeded out most of the BS about radio wave properties once I found out that the E1 pulse was only a single half wave pulse. (like you get when you connect a battery to a light except that it is off again in less than a millisecond)
Here is some technical stuff not found above:
The rise time is about 1/2 nanosecond and each nanosecond after that the voltage falls 50%. If we start at 50,000v the it drops to 25,000; 12,500; 6,250; 3,125; 1,562 ; 781; 380; 190; 95; 47; 23; 12; 6; 3; and is completely used up in 1/5 of a millisecond. After the voltage drops below 100 volts it is unlikely to hurt the electronics because that it only half the reverse voltage rating on most semiconductors. That is why the capacitor system works so well.

 

[OBG 57]

Please don't shoot the messenger folks but we need to see the reality of an emp problem,say your an electrician or power plant employee and you know an emp just happened are you going to try and walk to work or go or stay home to protect your family and stuff ?I retired last year from the electrical trade and worked with nothing but commercial electricians for the last 20,best advice I can give is learn the old ways if you want to survive such an event because that's what most of them are doing or some will just lock and load and go looking for easy stuff to take !

 

[Tirediron]

So simple question. will a GM (or other simple coil )HEI ignition coil survive an EMP un shielded, if it is disconnected and sitting on a wooden shelf ?

 

[TMT Tactical]

Sheepdog:

I read and mostly understood you post and found it excellent. Now I have a question, Will solar panels survive an EMP /HEMP event. I realize the inverters and controls will cook but I am not sure about the actual panels. Spare controls and inverters could be kept in a safe space (as described by you) but not the actual panels. I don't thin anybody could afford a secondary set or the space to protect them. Appreciate any help on this subject.

 

[SheepDog]

Tirediron, Ignition coils, whether in your car or on a shelf will likely be fine. There are no electronics in them and they are protected to about 80,000 volts. The E1 pulse will not affect them and a solar EMP will have no affect on any vehicle parts. You will need to replace your diode bridges and regulators to make your alternator function after an HEMP so keep the parts in a protective envelope.

TMT, your question needs a bit more definition. In a solar EMP the PV panels will be fine IF they are not connected to the grid. The panels are made up of a whole bunch of diodes and the E1 pulse of an HEMP (high altitude EMP) will burn out the junctions between the two parts of the diodes making them worthless. There are screens that can be used to protect them from Microwave EMP but in the HEMP event the only protection requires that they are stored inside proper shielding. You can wrap the shipping boxes in layers of plastic and aluminum the same way you would wrap a laptop to protect for replacement but there is no way to protect them in use. On a similar thought, most wind generators for home use are alternators with regulators and diodes built in. The generator will be fine but the regulators and diode bridges will be destroyed by the E1 pulse. If they are tied into the grid they can also be burnt by a solar EMP.

 

[TMT Tactical]

Sheepdog, Thanks for the reply. I was afraid that the emp / hemp would wipe out the panels. So storing back up controls is not going help if the actual panels (in use) are toast. Oh well, back to the drawing board.

 

[Tacitus]

There is a lot of misinformation out there.

All you need is a Faraday cage made from any metal.

For example, I wanted to protect some walkie-talkie hand radios. So, I wrapped them in bubble wrap and then in aluminum foil.

The bubble wrap keeps the radios from contacting the aluminum foil while the foil carries the pulse according to the principles of the Faraday cage.

The same should work for panels. You can put them in any solid metal container (shield the lid-container closure gap if possible, if you don't have EMI shielding gasket material). Make sure they are separated from the metal container with a non-conductive material, like wood, or bubble-wrap, lining the interior.

 

[Tacitus]

As for EMP...my strategy is to mostly prepare to live without any power at all, rather than try to protect my electronics for use after EMP. The radios are my only exception.

The electronics have to be in a Faraday cage, so they cannot be in use...so they have to be "extras."

My biggest worry is that an EMP knocks out the trucking industry. Food distribution would stop. People would die.

 

[SheepDog]

Tacticus, are you talking about a solar EMP or a high altitude nuclear EMP (HEMP)?
If you read my post you will understand why a simple single insulator wrapped in metal does not work with the Hemp and why a solar EMP is no threat to electronics.

 

[Tirediron]

As for EMP...my strategy is to mostly prepare to live without any power at all, rather than try to protect my electronics for use after EMP. The radios are my only exception.

The electronics have to be in a Faraday cage, so they cannot be in use...so they have to be "extras."

My biggest worry is that an EMP knocks out the trucking industry. Food distribution would stop. People would die.

You don't need an EMP ,the EPA is doing their level best to do that allready them and the micro time managers

 

[Tacitus]

Sheepdog: I will re-read your posts. I admit that some of your explanation of the science behind your posts did not make sense to me. For example, you discussed relative resistances of metals (all with near zero resistance...4 times near zero is still near zero). Are you saying that the effect is faster than the propagation of charge from one side of the cage to the other with some metals because of the resistance? Even if true in some cases (I'll have to think about it), I'm not sure that is a problem with a small (human portable) cage. But, as I say, I'll give it some thought.

My understanding is that Faraday cages are based on EM field effects more than current conduction through the metal...that is, the electrical field created by the cage prevents entry of the effect into the interior of the cage. Also, I believe that the effectiveness of uniform (no hole) Faraday cages is primarily based on thickness...and the higher the frequencies involved, the lower the minimum conductor thickness is allowed to be (because you don't need as much conductor to attenuate shorter wavelength signals). Are you saying that aluminum foil is not thick enough?

I will do some further research. It's been a while since I looked into this. At one point, I satisfied myself that the EMP effect frequencies (solar & nuclear) were high enough that a thicker conductor-shield was not required...but I don't remember the specific research which led me to this conclusion. (Admittedly, I did wrap my radios in shielding foil, and then placed them in a metal ammo box, so they are in nested Faraday cages.)

 

[SheepDog]

Tacticus,
There is only one component to a solar EMP. It is a slow build up of high current caused by the induction of current as the earth's magnetic is disturbed and rebounds the effect of charged particles thrown off from the sun.
An HEMP has three separate and distinctly different components. The first one is NOT a true EM effect. It is the E1 pulse caused by atmospheric electrons freed by gamma particles penetrating the atmosphere. There is only 1/2 pulse that goes from zero volts to at least 50,000volts in 1/2 millionth of a second and then normalizes back to zero in less than a thousandth of a second. This E1 pulse is so fast and of such a high voltage that it burns the junctions in the diodes of all semiconductors. It will burn electronics sitting on warehouse shelves in their static bags. This E1 pulse will penetrate a shield with a hole or gap of 0.1mm.
Capacitive protection slows the travel of electrical voltage more than the current. Traveling from one plate through an insulator to another plate when the plates are low resistance requires that the first plate becomes saturated but with more resistive metals the voltage will go through the plate and insulator before saturation is complete. That is why they use copper, aluminum, silver and gold in capacitors and not steel. If you think that there is zero resistance in copper you are mistaken. To run 12 volts at 200 amps over a two foot distance you need 4 AWG copper wire. To run it 20 feet you need 000 AWG copper wire.If you are using aluminum wire you need at least a full AWG higher and if you wanted to run steel wire you would need 12 AWG sizes higher than the copper.
Perhaps you are thinking of microwave radio waves that can be stopped by a wire mesh that has holes that are less than 1/4 wavelength. The E1 pulse is not an AC (alternating current) wave. It is a fast rise of DC voltage. There is no wave to block. It is 1000s of times faster than a lightning strike. It comes from all directions because the air is the source. The entire atmosphere under the bomb, from horizon to horizon is ionized. The electrons are knocked free from the atoms in the air and directed at the ground. The charge penetrates the ground to 30 feet or more so even the ground is charged. lightning can be safely grounded but the E1 pulse has the ground charged so a grounding rod acts like a conductor to feed voltage to the cage instead of away from it. The only effective way to protect electronics from the E1 pulse is multiple layers of capacitive reactance. Several layers of highly conductive material separated by good insulator material. That slows the charge down so it dissipates before it gets to the electronics.
The HEMP has two other components, the E2 and E3 pulses. The E2 is caused by the E1 pulse and is just a rebound in opposite polarity with reduced voltage over a longer period. It isn't a true EM pulse either just a slow rise to high voltage that affects the grid much like a lightning strike. The E3 pulse is a true EMP caused by the bomb disrupting the earths magnetic field just like a solar EMP except it is concentrated over just the area from horizon to horizon from the bombs point of view. The rupture and recombination of the magnetic field induces high current into long transmission lines, large transformers and large generator coils. The current overloads the wire and causes it to burn but this pulse is stopped before it can damage individual households. The E2 pulse would be a non-issue if not for the preceding E1 pulse because most power lines have electronic protection against lightning strikes that would protect against it. The problem is that the E1 pulse destroys that protection. The electronic fast switches are no longer working and the pulse gets though to the small transformers and short runs of wire. The small transformers are overloaded and burn out before the E2 pulse can get through which protects your home from the overload. It really doesn'y matter because all the electronics in your home ae already fried by the E1 pulse. The E2 and E3 pulses take out the grid and because the transformers and generators are burned it takes decades to build new components to replace them. Even the transmission wires will have to be made and all that manufacturing takes power - which is nonexistent after the HEMP. we will have to have parts made over seas and shipped here to be fitted.

I hope this helps you understand the nature of the threat and why normal radio wave protection doen't work in this case.

 

[Tacitus]

I've done a little research since over the past couple days. I've found one source that supports you (that a layer of foil will not work), and one that supports me (that a layer of foil will work...lots of math at that one, which I won't bother to post here, because I confess I don't understand it). The one that supports me indicates that the internal cage attenuation of the pulse by foil is likely not to be total, but probably sufficient to prevent damage. So, if I'm right, two layers should cover any high level EMP contingency...nested Faraday cages. If I'm wrong, I will have to live without my radios if there is an EMP...which certainly will not be my biggest problem in such a scenario.

An HEMP has three separate and distinctly different components. The first one is NOT a true EM effect. It is the E1 pulse...is only 1/2 pulse that goes from zero volts to at least 50,000volts in 1/2 millionth of a second and then normalizes back to zero in less than a thousandth of a second. This E1 pulse is so fast and of such a high voltage that it burns the junctions in the diodes of all semiconductors. It will burn electronics sitting on warehouse shelves in their static bags. This E1 pulse will penetrate a shield with a hole or gap of 0.1mm.

E1: Agreed on the potential damage to semiconductors (not only diode junctions, but more importantly transistor channels). Also, agreed on the hole penetration, in general. However, because the frequency is high, the skin depth of the shield can be thinner, and foil (with no gaps) should work to protect against high frequency effects like this. Do you agree?

Capacitive protection slows the travel of electrical voltage more than the current. Traveling from one plate through an insulator to another plate when the plates are low resistance requires that the first plate becomes saturated...

Generally speaking, capacitors don't work that way. Capacitors actually appear as conductors to high frequency signals, not as insulators. My understanding (regarding which I invite comment or critique):

A capacitor is a two terminal device, with each metal terminal coupled to a corresponding metal plate. The metals have near-zero resistance for good conduction (of course). The two metal plates are separated by a gap of very high resistance, which prevents conduction from one plate to the other. The gap could be an air gap, but it usually has some form of highly resistive filler material. Because of this gap, no current conducts all the way through a capacitor during normal operation.

• A DC current will not flow at all...there is a break in the circuit...the gap between the plates. It is an open circuit as regards direct (non-oscillating) current.
• In AC conditions (or even a fast switching condition, which is what EMP is), current flowing into the capacitor builds up a charge on one plate on one side of the capacitor, but the current stops at that plate because of the gap. This plate-collected charge attracts an opposite charge on the other plate...an EM field effect across the gap (like a magnet attracts the opposite pole of a magnet across space). For example, a negative charged plate (extra electrons) will cause a complimentary positive charge on the other plate (by repelling electrons from that plate, which causes current to flow out the other terminal). When the AC current on the input terminal switches from negative to positive, the charges on the plates switch, causeing current flow at the other terminal, but there is no current conduction across the overall capacitor).

Although no current is conducting from one side to the other, the capacitor nonetheless appears like a closed circuit to AC current / EMP pulse-induced wire bound current.

So, normal capacitors in an integrated circuit, for example, will not protect the circuit from EMP damage.

BUT, when the plates are much larger than a capacitor, and constructed in essentially spherical form, as in a Faraday cage, things change. There is no second terminal connected to anything on the inside of the nested cage, so we are only talking about shielding effect, not current conduction.

...but with more resistive metals the voltage will go through the plate and insulator before saturation is complete. That is why they use copper, aluminum, silver and gold in capacitors and not steel.

I think you are saying that if a higher resistance metal is used (still very low resistance absolutely speaking), there will be a substantial voltage drop from one side of the plate to the other side of the plate (something we often ignore in metals in normal conditions), which will cause damage to devices inside the Faraday cage. Is that what you are saying?

Here is where we part ways. I'm not sure (yet) that this is true...assuming I understand your point...which I may not.

If you think that there is zero resistance in copper you are mistaken.

I don't think that. Nothing has zero resistance at normal temperatures. But, copper is one of the best room temperature conductors there is...the resistance is essentially negligible. Or, are you saying that the presence of any resistance at all, even very little resistance, nullifies the shielding effect of copper as regards EMP? I'm not yet sure that is true, but if true, then nothing will shield.

Perhaps you are thinking of microwave radio waves that can be stopped by a wire mesh that has holes that are less than 1/4 wavelength.

I'm only discussing gap-free Faraday cages. I don't think screens or meshes will work. The screen of a microwave oven door will not shield for EMP. Do you agree with that?

The E1 pulse is not an AC (alternating current) wave. It is a fast rise of DC voltage. There is no wave to block.

Even if not true AC, a fast rise is a wave...if only one wave. Also, if I'm not mistaken, it is not one wave and done. Rather, it is a big wave, followed by smaller and immediately decreasing waves/oscillations.

It is 1000s of times faster than a lightning strike. It comes from all directions because the air is the source. The entire atmosphere under the bomb, from horizon to horizon is ionized. The electrons are knocked free from the atoms in the air and directed at the ground.

So, to be precise, it comes not from all directions, but only from directly overhead, at all ground locations within horizon view of the bomb. Is that fair to say?

The only effective way to protect electronics from the E1 pulse is multiple layers of capacitive reactance. Several layers of highly conductive material separated by good insulator material. That slows the charge down so it dissipates before it gets to the electronics.

I agree that a multi-layer cage (nested Faraday cages) should be better than a single Faraday cage.

The HEMP has two other components, the E2 and E3 pulses. ... we will have to have parts made over seas and shipped here to be fitted.

Agreed. That is why EMP is a problem, and why I wanted to shield my radios.

 

[Tirediron]

my knee jerk reaction to a Faraday cage was to think that insulation would be better than conductive caging.

 

[Tacitus]

Insulation protects against conduction (flow of electrons), but does not protect against the effects of electromagnetic fields (a force more than a thing). Electromagnetic fields pass through insulating materials. Shielding materials protect against EM fields. It just so happens that if something is a conductor, it also makes a good shield. And, a shield can also protect from electrons by redirecting the flow around the thing to be protected (think: lighting rod). From Wikipedia:

A Faraday cage or Faraday shield is an enclosure used to block electromagnetic fields. A Faraday shield may be formed by a continuous covering of conductive material or in the case of a Faraday cage, by a mesh of such materials. A Faraday cage operates because an external electrical field causes the electric charges within the cage's conducting material to be distributed such that they cancel the field's effect in the cage's interior. ​

I think the basic Faraday cage for EMP protection has two components:

1. shielding, such as a metal shell; and
   
2. insulation inside the shell, placed to ensure that the devices protected by the shielding in the cage do not make conductive contact with the metal shell.

I think Sheepdog thinks nested Faraday shields may be reqiured, and he may be right.

By the way: I want to say that my posts here are not to win a debate, but rather to help discover truth. If I become convinced I am wrong on anything I have said here, I will immediately admit it. If I am proven right, or if I am proven wrong, either way, it is a victory, as the truth will have been discovered.

 

[SheepDog]

I am not going to waste my time trying to educate you Tacticus. You are thinking the E1 pulse is a wave and it is not. You are thinking that an insulator will stop the voltage but if you look at a capacitor in a DC circuit you see that as one plate charges from an outside source the opposite plate takes on a reverse charge of the same potential.

If you are interested in the truth you have to stop believing that you have the answer before you understand the problem. You are not alone in your thinking and there is a lot of stuff on the net that will support your belief. It doesn't change the facts and it doesn't support the truth. Learn about the nature of the E1 pulse and what its effects are and then search for a solution.
There has been no testing on the E1 pulse since the late 1960s because we have no way to generate a 50,000 volt pulse with a 500 terahertz rise time other than with a high altitude nuclear bomb. These bombs were banned after the USA and Russia found out that they didn't have instruments that could record and survive the pulse. The milspec tests used today limit the rise time, voltage and amperage to less than 150% of the rated capacity of components being tested. weapons research is going on with microwave transmitters in the gigahertz bands but we still have no way to generate anything with the rise time and voltage of the E1 pulse.
I wish you well in your search for the truth.