Pacemakers and Carrington Event re-occurrence

[ElecGeekMom]

I was just wondering - what would happen to a person with a pacemaker if they were caught out in an event similar to the Carrington Event?

[Sparky]

nothing....unless someone fidgeting with their now dead cell phone runs over him with their car.

[ElecGeekMom]

LOL

Yeah, but I thought that vehicles that had electronic ignition would be dead in the water. Someone once told me they figure an old diesel would keep running. Thoughts?

[Sparky]

You would need a large EM pulse, such as one created by a nuclear weapon, to disable a car's computer...

cme's overload power lines and trip breakers...not enough energy to disable a computer..

[audreya]

Have something similar to a pacemaker, is a professional massage allowed? I have something similar to a pacemaker (due to heart problems i inherited) and my mom wanted to bring me to a spa, am i allowed to get a professional massage? Or will something happen? Oh, and I am getting a replacement this summer, if that helps.

[davesmith_au]

audreya is it not appropriate for anyone on this forum to issue medical advice. Please consult a health professional.

Dave Smith.
Forum Administrator.

[starbiter]

You would need a large EM pulse, such as one created by a nuclear weapon, to disable a car's computer...

cme's overload power lines and trip breakers...not enough energy to disable a computer..

Hello Sparky: It's my understanding that printed circuits are extraordinarily vulnerable. My late partner was the chief scientist for electronic warfare for the country of Israel. He worked at a place called Raphael, in Haifa. There was a tank at the front door. It was not for decoration. It was loaded. He claimed future weapons would be electromagnetic pulse devices. It would be difficult to melt an ingot of iron. But printed circuits are very thin. The thinner the material, the quicker it will melt. A focused energy beam might make an incoming missile warhead useless. HAARP does this over a large area. When the USA found that the Soviets and latter the Russians were using tubes in their war planes, the scientists thought the Russians were stupid. Tubes being much thicker than printed circuits, are less vulnerable. Maybe the Russians aren't so dumb. The Saint Elmo's fire reported during the Chicago fire might not be good for unshielded printed circuits. Anyone with a pace maker might want to be inside a Faraday cage.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday_cage

michael

[Sparky]

Michael, you are correct....yes, electronic circuits are extremely vulnerable! just picking one up the wrong way can zap it from the static electricity discharge.!..a discharge that one does even begin to detect!

It is the integrated circuit chip that is the problem...they cram a whole bunch of diodes into a very small space, and an inerrant arc can destroy the circuits contained within the chip...

the old vacuum tube circuits were very robust, but those are not practical now....

yes, a pulsed weapon can take out electronics....there is a radio controlled wheeled robot that can be guided up under a vehicle where it discharges a HV pulse into it, disabling it...the robot has to be touching the vehicle...2 feet away and it won't work...

it has to do with the density/strength of the charge....that is why i said that a cme would probably not have any effect...even though, collectively over an area, it would have an effect, the density is too little to be dangerous at a specific point/place.

yes, ball lightening or any other kind of concentrated charge would be dangerous to electronics....again, depending on the distance.
lightening usually creates a pulse that comes in on the power line and it can wreak havok with printed circuit chips and power diodes.

[Shrike]

Woneeza see the reply from dave a couple posts up.

audreya is it not appropriate for anyone on this forum to issue medical advice. Please consult a health professional.

Dave Smith.
Forum Administrator.