Poor mans EMP protection....

"Electricity doesn't travel the core of the metal, but the surface"
Electrical current does travel in the core of the material. RF travels on the "skin" or surface.

"Ammo cans have rubber seals so there is no unbroken shielding. I have not seen them block AM or FM radio, wifi, or cellphone signals without the devices being individually wrapped in foil and plastic. Maybe I am doing something wrong"
You're right on this, waves as small as the gap caused by the rubber can get in, but are heavily attenuated due to the direction changes as they bounce through the turns. I worked in a small lab testing different shielding for small integrated computers where we used a 3" piece of 500 mcm cable exploded by 300 joules of DC 50kv to generate a pulse. Without too many details, given away, most shielding would allow signals to re-radiate inside a sealed container if the amplitude was great enough, but were attenuated enough to cause no damage to the shielded components. Obviously no one knows what a high altitude EMP will do because no one has experienced one yet, and speculation is mostly built on the Carrington event of 1859. No solid state devices were around then, and frequencies of the solar flare were not noted. The differences are many when compared to an EMP from a nuclear device, but mainly that Carrington lasted over a day, and a nuke explodes in 500 milliseconds.

Solar storm of 1859 - Wikipedia

 

People often mix up Electricity and EMP and think of EMP as a powerful bolt of lightning type thing ( high powered static electricity). While they both have the same end effect on unprotected electronics as a end result, how they achieve the end result is quite different. EMP is more like a super high powered radio wave. The wave lengths in a EMP event of any nature are simply not very effective at penetrating the ground, the more conductive the ground the less effective those waves become. A simple calculation to determine a sub surface is to estimate the most likely Proximity+Concentration+Soil Conductivity = the appropriate depth. Another myth is that grounding protects things from EMP. Grounding only protects from the static electric and discharges it, Grounding does not protect from the actual EMP waves.

 

ON large objects ungrounded they will hold the energy rather than direct it.
Iron content in the ground is he determining factor. Even lightening will travel along the surface of the ground till it can find enough iron content to be absorbed.

 

@Thundersranch hit it on the head.

 

Mine is in a steel garbage can , in a burred 20 foot sea can down 6 feet for our cold storage .
4 Midnite CC & a few inverters ,radios , flashlights etc . 3000 watt propane inverter in a can with oil & valves ready to find the bottle ..

In forest fires , they cut power sometimes & BC is on Fire !
Sloth

Id reword that @Bandit99

 

do you need help getting out ?

 

???? After an effective EMP. there won't be any networks (radio, TV, internet) able to send out anything, so why do we need to save gizmos needed to receive anything? Of course, if you have a pre-branibox vehicle, storing the right alternator, generator/regulator or magneto in a Faraday cage might make some sense-- at least until your gasoline supply runs out.

 

Because that assumption is incorrect. More like scaremongering, actually.
Btw , alcohol and wood gas can be used to power many "gasoline " engines.

 

The nuclear emp also disrupts the upper atmosphere for hours like a solar storm.
It jams radio communications for hours after the blast and reeks havoc on the power grids that survived initial pulse. It's not just the initial pulse that wipes out everything.
It's not over in less than a second.
See starfish prime.
I made a long ass post about about this last year I need to find.

 

Here it is.
EMP, The Electromagnetic Pulse | Survival Monkey Forums

You would think something like that would be featured since it would prevent a lot of unnecessary worry and pointless prepping for people concerned about solar storms.

 

A couple points: A solar EMP would fry anything with a transistor or (especially) a microchip if unprotected. It would certainly fry anything connected to the grid (cf-Carrington Event).

A Faraday Cage works by diverting the current equally around all sides so that the integrated sum of the charges inside the cage is zero. That's why you're safe from lightning in a fully roofed car. Does that also work for charged particles (as opposed to EM waves) flying thru the air? That question leaves the actual effects of an EMP in doubt.

From the strategic point of view, using a nuclear explosion to create an EMP to hopefully destroy an enemy's electronics would be pretty dumb: you'd be risking nuclear retaliation with no assurance your efforts would even have any significant effects. You'd be smarter to just use your weapon as it was originally intended, as a physically destructive bomb, if you were going to use it at all.

Kim Jong-un may have bad judgement when it comes to hair do-s, but he isn't stupid.

 

Solar EMP is no danger to electronics that are not connected to the power grid.
Look at all the solar storms to knocked out power over the years. No complaints of small electronics being damaged.
Also air craft were in the air above the effected region and none crashed. Now communications and advanced navigation aids were made nonfunctional until the solar storm ended or the air craft exited the effected area.
If solar EMP destroyed electronics we would have all heard of broken down cars abandoned all over the solar storm effected region and air craft falling out of the sky.
So it doesn't happen people need to stop wasting time and resources on this.
The difference between solar EMP and nuclear is the amount of voltage that will build up on each meter of conductor out of thin air.
Solar EMP will build up maybe several volts per meter at ground level.
Another post I made tested vehicles made before 2000 against EMP. They were tested at levels up to 50kv per meter and the testing gear used was maxed out. Most vehicles suffered no ill effect.
No effect was noted at all until 12kv per meter and only on some vehicles while running. Higher levels caused some vehicles to stall but all restarted with out any issues.
No effect was noted on vehicles that were turned off during the pulse then started after.
Nuclear EMP could easily make 1 million volts per meter. Everything is fried.

 

Hmm I wonder... would a strong EMP effect the magnetic field on a compass... the mind boggles....

 

Electronic compasses perhaps, if electronic components are damaged....good old lodestone style compass...probably not. YBMV (Your bearings may vary) .

 

Earth's magnetic fields are being disrupted, and they say actually moving .
Any one with a compass that can be adjusted delineated can reorient the compass to compensate the changes and maintain map orientation . It is already required any way for all navigation. Where I am is 14 degrees off true north.
It is likely that a very strong CME might be able to change things , not better not worse just different. and the unknown is for how long. Having star charts and knowing what your reading , even having a sextant might just make a difference in navigation during these times. Keep in mind that if oceans rise maps that have elevations will be of significant value. the navy has already made the calculations to this possible event , many have already taken action .
No substitute for compass and maps ,if electronics are compromised ,it is quite likely that satellites will be neutralized as well ,no communications and no GPS .
Another fly in the ointment is one no one talks about ,and that is; either a significant tsunami that has even more effect on the earth's orientation than they have in the past, or a more significant meteor strike, which would really shake things up good.
Any thing teetering on breaking, will break loose, and those results would definitely need those capable of making do.
IMO