In 1962, at 11:00:09 pm local time on July 8th, the United States detonated a thermonuclear warhead riding atop a Thor missile at 400 km above Johnston Island at a distance of 826 miles from Honolulu, Hawaii. That night was one that many on the Hawaii Islands would never forget (Berkhouse, 1962). Operation , as the test was code named by the U.S. military, caused the first damage in the United States from an electromagnetic pulse created by a nuclear detonation. Though the damage was not intended or planned, the 1.4-megaton weapon caused “the failure of street-lighting systems, tripping of circuit breakers, triggering of burglar alarms, and damage to a telecommunications relay facility.” (EMP Commission, 2004, p. 4)
We’ve all heard the conspiracy theories, the conjecture, and the out and out crazy talk that some fear mongers have envisaged for decades. Let us put all the scary thoughts that we’ve ever had nightmares over and discuss the real facts about an Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP). With the world so closely tied to its love of all things electronic, can the EMP actually take our civilization from the twenty-first century to the pre-industrial ago so quickly? The evidence will show that this is a grave threat, and needs to be taken by as such.
The United States, as well as the world, is more and more dependent on electronics. Everything around us runs on electricity; from the cars we drive, our dependency on mobile electronics we use, all the way down to the cappuccino machines that make our favorite beverages. We love our electronics. Last year alone “retail sales of consumer electronics fell just short of $1 trillion in 2011,” reports John Laposky of TWICE magazine, and those sales “are predicted to hit $1.04 trillion in 201...
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...the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack. Report of the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack - Volume 1: Executive Report. 108th Cong., 2nd sess. H. Rept. Vol. 1. EMP Commission, 2004. Commission To Assess The Threat To The United States From Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack. EMP Commission, 22 July 2004. Web. 10 Feb. 2012. .
United States. Defense Nuclear Agency. Operation Dominic I - 1962. Vol. DNA 6040F. L. Berkhouse, 1962. T24298. U.S. Department of Defense - Defense Threat Reduction Agency. Web. 10 Feb. 2012. .
United States. Federal Trade Commission. Electronic Banking. Dec. 2006. Web. 11 Feb. 2012. .
When one thinks about warfare, the average mental picture is usually a movie war scene with soldiers, and planes; very rarely do people think about about the average Joe, trimming his hedge. In the short story “Grace Period”, by Will Baker, there is a man trimming his hedge outside with an electric hedge trimmer when a nuclear bomb is dropped; his wife has gone to get the mail. In “an instant [he felt as] everything stretched just slightly, a few millimeters, then contracted again” (Baker, 1989, p. 7). Although the character does not know what is happening, the reader may realize that this description is a high altitude nuclear burst. The article “Nuclear Weapon Effects”, by John Pike, describes what a nuclear bomb’s effects are and what could happen if one was dropped. Based on clues in the story and the information from the article, the reader can determine what is happening to the man and what he can expect will happen to him.
Although nuclear technology can be used for good, it can also be used for destruction. One example of this was the bombing of 2 Japanese cities using the a...
protection of people around the world. We don't need to get rid of electronics because they are
On April 11, 1950, at 9:38 PM, a B-29 took off from Kirtland Air Force Base (AFB) in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The aircraft was on a mission to deliver a Mark 4 nuclear weapon to the 509th Bomb Wing at Walker AFB in Roswell. The aircraft and its crew of 13 were only in flight for approximately three minutes when the plane crashed into a mountain on Monzano Base, Kirtland AFB. All 13 personnel were killed in the crash. Neither the bomb, nor the high explosive material, exploded from the impact. Some of the explosive material was scattered and burned in the gasoline fire that resulted from the impact. The bomb cas...
Mendelsohn, Jack. 1999. “Missile Defense: and it Still Won’t Work.” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. May/June 29-31.
During the summer of 1946, a joint task force was given the mission to test the effects of nuclear radiation on ships, equipment and material. Formed in the winter of 1946, Joint Task Force 1 was made up of Navy, Army and civilian personnel (“Operation Crossroads, 1946”). The test was done using two atomic bombs, ABLE and BAKER. The target, was a fleet of 71 to 90 ships, depending on the source, and was made up of older U.S. ships and captured German and Japanese ships the first detonation in the series was named ABLE. ABLE was a 23 kt air burst that would fall short and to the left of its target resulting in only 5 ships being destroyed (“Operation Crossroads”). Experts determined the radiation was low enough to only require a couple of days before a crew could board the vessels and do their research. The BAKER detonation would be a similar weapon with only slight modifications to allow it to be suspended underwater. Anchored to the LSM-60, a landing ship, the BAKER detonation would test the effec...
Dropping an atomic bomb on Hiroshima generated substantial immediate effects. It caused damage to both structures and civilians li...
“One hundred and thirty-thousand computers are thrown out every day in the U.S., and over one hundred million cell phones every year” (CBS News). We live in a materialistic society where more is good and the newer the better. In our fast paced lives companies used this to their advantage to continual bring out newer upd...
When the first bomb was made a site in Alamogordo, New Mexico was chosen as the testing ground. In order for the bomb to explode, all the nuclei of the several grams of Uranium would have to be split. A sphere of Uranium the size of a baseball would cause an explosion that equaled the strength of 15,000 to 20,000 tons of TNT. When the bomb had exploded there was a tower and the explosion had turned the asphalt around the tower into green sand, the sky was extremely bright and seconds after the explosion came a huge blast that sent unbelievable heat across the desert. Also, there was a huge mushroom cloud that reached the sub-stratosphere that was at an elevation of 41,000 feet. 10,000 feet away a soldier was of right off his feet by the force of the shock wave and another soldier stationed five miles away was temporarily blinded. The explosion was able to be herd 50 miles away.
The USA’s new weapon, the Hydrogen bomb, or H-bomb, was one of the most powerful weapons of the time. In 1950, the H-bomb was tested in the Eniwetok Atoll, Marshall Islands (Cold War History). The reaction was so fierce, the explosion wiped the island off the face of the earth leaving a crater on the ocean floor. The explosion reached a range of 25 square miles and had a mushroom cloud which dropped radioactive fallout on the surrounding areas (The Cold War Museum). This new weapon scared the Soviet Union into creating their own bombs. This buildup of weapons by the two countries started The Cuban Missile Crisis (The Cuban).
...the world's first atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. This unjustified act on behalf of the United States would become one of the darkest days in the history of the world. This day of destruction would also forever change warfare for the worse. The United States dropping of the atomic bomb introduced the world to a new class of weaponry, nuclear weapons. The first usage of the atomic bomb validated why the creators never wanted it used at all. The two bombs combined caused a total death toll of approximately 250,000 people by the end of 1950, while not including the many others survivors left suffering from radiation symptoms. The United States was never justified in dropping the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki because it was unnecessary for victory and it cost thousands of innocent people their lives, while leaving devastation to millions more.
Headquarters, Department of the Army (31 August 2007), FM 3-05.132 Army Special Operations Forces Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Operations,
The people of the Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands would never be the same after 1946. 67 nuclear weapon tests were conducted on this atoll until the blessed year of 1958. Perhaps the only reason the United States displaced a beautiful culture and atoll was to settle some post-WWII uneasiness. Bikini was the definition of perfection when it came to testing the most powerful weapon there is in the world. It was inhabited by only 167 islanders which meant an easy relocation. The atoll was isolated, limiting the chances of further damage to other atolls. It also had a shallow lagoon, allowing easy access to radioactive measuring devices that would fall into the water. In July of 1946 the first operation, of what would be many, occurred, Operation Crossroads, sealing the Bikinians fate of forever being the “nomads of the sea.” The objective was to test prototypes of the first thermonuclear weapon. The biggest thermonuclear weapon ever detonated by the United States occurred in the Bikini Atoll. Its name was Castle Bravo and was detonated the first of March in 1954. This detonation not only affected the atoll, but other inhabited atolls that were not evacuated. The U.S destroyed all respect and pride the islanders in the Marshall Islands had for their land. On that same land, generations before them lived in harmony and peace. This would be the same land that the Bikinians have not been able to return to and reclaim as theirs (only in 2013 has it been deemed safe). Even though the nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands led to peace of mind for the United States before the Cold War, America’s lack of consideration for the consequences of severe radioactivity led to the annihilation of the whole culture,...
The development and usage of the first atomic bombs has caused a change in military, political, and public functionality of the world today. The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki revolutionized warfare by killing large masses of civilian population with a single strike. The bombs’ effects from the blast, extreme heat, and radiation left an estimated 140,000 people dead. The bombs created a temporary resolution that lead to another conflict. The Cold War was a political standoff between the Soviet Union and the United States that again created a new worldwide nuclear threat. The destructive potential of nuclear weapons had created a global sweep of fear as to what might happen if these terrible forces where unleashed again. The technology involved in building the first atomic bombs has grown into the creation of nuclear weapons that are potentially 40 times more powerful than the original bombs used. However, a military change in strategy has came to promote nuclear disarmament and prevent the usage of nuclear weapons. The technology of building the atomic bomb has spurred some useful innovations that can be applied through the use of nuclear power. The fear of a potential nuclear attack had been heightened by the media and its release of movies impacting on public opinion and fear of nuclear devastation. The lives lost after the detonation of the atomic bombs have become warning signs that changed global thinking and caused preventative actions.
Electronic components and their services have affected these worlds’ lives tremendously. Society has relied on it left and right to check ones answers or to answer people’s questions. Also, Inform them about the latest and greatest trends that come about; as well as instructing them on anything from how to tie your shoes to how to write a paper.