|
WhoreMods -> RE: Ted Kaczynski may have had a point (8/3/2017 4:48:45 AM)
|
quote:
ORIGINAL: jlf1961
quote:
ORIGINAL: WhoreMods
quote:
ORIGINAL: jlf1961
You know, if there was ever a solar storm big enough to knock out every electronic device on the planet, the human race would go extinct
A lot of people would die, but I doubt it'd be an extinction level dieback.
maybe not an extinction level event, but the biggest part of the population on this planet cant function without their electronics, and a good portion could not cook a meal without a microwave.
The funny thing is that the members of the HAM club I belong to give me a rash of crap because of all the vacuum tube radios I use, and the fact that every swap meet I go to, I either pick up more or get more tubes.
Contrary to popular belief, vacuum tubes are still in production, and at present I could blow every tube in all nine of my ancient boat anchor radios about 10 times and be up and running in about five minutes.
However, unlike solid state microprocessor electronics, a tube unit is less prone to blowing out due to a power surge, and if they do go, it is usually only one particular tube in the power supply.
Okay, so my room I use for my radio shack has two window AC units designed for rooms 4 times as big otherwise I would be sitting in a 400 square foot oven with 9 foot ceilings.
But in the winter, I can open the door to the shack and heat one end of the house with little problem.[:D]
The sad thing is that a solar event that could take out the power grid and damage electronic devices is not that far fetched. The event that triggered the massive blackout in the US Northeast and eastern Canada in the late sixties was just about strong enough and did cause serious problems with the early electronics of the day.
The worst part is that even if it did not directly effect the electronics, the power grid world wide is so sustainable to an electromagnetic solar event that the world could be blacked out in a minute and it would take years to fully restore power to customers.
And it is not transformers or substations that are the weak link, but the power lines themselves. They will take that electromagnetic energy, draw it in as current and overload the system. That was the cause of the last major black out in the US.
And while power companies are working to prevent it, to date only about two percent of the systems in jeopardy have been corrected. And to insulate transmission lines to prevent such an event, well you would end up with power lines that would be too heavy to have on power line towers.
Of course, how many people know that an electric motor can be an electric generator with very little modification?
I'd hope anybody who did physics (or even general science) in high school has an idea how a motor and a generator operate and relate to one other.
Valves are still used in a lot of audio equipment: if you want to be bored to tears by a working guitarist or bassist, just ask them why solid state amplifiers aren't as good as analogue ones. That said. valves are fragile, even if they are less susceptible to power surges, which is why they've been phased out of a lot of stuff. (Of course, in this case the advantage is that they can be replaced if they blow, and that it's pretty obvious looking at one whether it still works or not. A trashed chip or transistor, on the other hand looks exactly the same as a working one.)
As for food preparation, yes, a lot of people will be lost if they can't just stick a tv dinner in the microwave, but rudimentary level cooking is a skill that can be learned, and hunger if often a powerful incentive towards that. What's more worrying than that, to my mind, is the number of people who wouldn't be able to find out the basics of food preparation without the internet.
(And I'm very aware of how dependent I am on the technologies in my home: once the fridge is dead and my insulin spoiled, there's no real point in my eating anyway. I'm probably not the best person to ask about that as a result.))
|
|
|
|
