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Electromagnetic pulse: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:Emp-blast.jpg|thumb]]
EMP, short for electromagnetic pulse, is often used in stories to take out anything electronic. Sometimes shown to be a temporary effect (especially when the [[Rule of Fun]] applies in games), it usually results in the permanent disabling of electronic systems.▼
▲'''EMP''', short for electromagnetic pulse, is often used in stories to take out anything electronic. Sometimes shown to be a temporary effect (especially when the [[Rule of Fun]] applies in games), it usually results in the permanent disabling of electronic systems.
Now for a more detailed [http://www.fas.org/nuke/intro/nuke/emp.htm explanation].▼
▲Now for a more detailed [https://web.archive.org/web/20131026172746/http://www.fas.org/nuke/intro/nuke/emp.htm explanation].
When a nuclear warhead explodes, it releases a LOT of gamma rays, which are photons with tons of energy. When these photons travel through air, they strip electrons off the air molecules as they zoom past. This is called "ionizing" the air. Because those photons are so very energetic, they do it over a very long distance and make a huge volume of ionized air.
Ionized air becomes a conductor. This means those stripped-off electrons, energized by the gamma rays, are free to move around in an electric current. Any change in current produces radio waves. And since the current is going from zero to huge in a very short amount of time, this means a large portion of the atmosphere becomes a MASSIVE radio transmitter, broadcasting noise at full power.
Radio waves have the generally useful property that they induce currents in conductive material (that's how a receiving antenna works). So whenever these MASSIVE radio waves hit something metal, like the wires inside your computer, they produce proportionally MASSIVE power surges. Ever had a piece of electronics destroyed when lightning hit your house? This is a similar effect, except bigger. And everywhere. At the same time.
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Doesn't that sound like fun?
In particular, silicon
If you want to do this zapping without the nuclear fallout, there are a few [http://science.howstuffworks.com/e-bomb3.htm smaller weapons] that can generate an EMP. Such a thing is usually a kind of single-use electric generator, which sends out its pulse when crushed by a conventional explosive. The pulse is far weaker, and can kill maybe an office full of computers. In case you wonder why the same explosive charge alone couldn't do it, a range can be extended by rigging up a generator to get a directional emission of microwaves instead of a plain magnetic surge. Getting a city-sized EMP without a nuclear bomb is not feasible with current technology; as to reusable variants, if we had the capacitors necessary to do that, we could also build practical [[Magnetic Weapons|railguns]] and laser rifles.
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When Hollywood talks about EMP, it can generally be filed under [[You Fail Physics Forever]].
{{examples|Examples:}}▼
== [[Anime]]
* ''[[Highschool of the Dead]]'' features one moderately realistic EMP generated by a low-altitude nuke exploding over Japan.
* In ''[[Gundam Seed]]'', ZAFT has the Gungnir System, which it deploys when they attack Panama - and then proceed to slaughter Alliance soldiers trapped in disabled mecha. Even the revenge-minded Yzak gives pause at this, hinting at his later [[Heel Face Turn]].
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* ''[[X-Men]]'' villain (and [[Heel Face Revolving Door|occasional ally]]) Magneto does this from time to time. Considering how [[Green Lantern Ring|flexible]] his magnetic powers are usually depicted as being, it's not completely out of the question. Storm has done it with ''lightning bolts'' which ... [[You Fail Physics Forever|no]].
* In the second issue of ''[[Global Frequency]]'', one of the characters carries non-lethal weaponry, such as EMP grenades, when they are going against a full-body enhancile. {{spoiler|They are... not exactly non-leathal.}}
* In [[The Dark Knight Returns]] the Soviets launch a single nuclear missile at the contested island of Corto Maltese. Superman knocks it off course, but, as Batman points out, this is not a [[Nuke
* In ''[[
* ''[[Iron Man]]'' has one built into his armor. It disables his own gear as well, which then takes about six minutes to fix itself. The exact same thing is in the ''[[War Machine (Comic Book)|War Machine]]'' armor.
== [[Fan
* In ''[[
== [[Film]] ==
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** Also, in a possible case of [[Did Not Do the Research]], in the Animatrix's ''The Second Renaissance'', it is said that the machines had little to fear from nuclear explosions as they were not affected by the heat and fallout, completely forgetting about the effects described in the page's intro.
* In the 2005 film ''[[War of the Worlds]]'' the Martians subject urban areas to a terrifying EMP weapon disguised as a lightning storm. It is designed to wreck our technological society before the tripod assault: a instrument of ''total'' war.
* In ''[[Air Force One (
* In [[John Woo]]'s ''[[Broken Arrow (1996
* Speaking of EMP and helicopters, this is the favorite weapon of Blackout in the live-action ''[[Transformers (
** Blaster uses an EMP gun. It blows up normal electronics but Transformers, being more resilient, only suffer from seriously impaired movement coordination (still very painful if you happen to be in jet form at the time).
* In ''[[Small Soldiers]]'', the kid blows up a power transformer in the back yard. This generates an EMP that fries the circuitry of all the evil toys. The good toys are shielded by a downed satellite dish, somehow.
* In the remake of ''[[
** Assuming that such a device could be built, the rapid restoration of power is a [[Artistic License Physics]]/[[Artistic License Engineering]] double-header. Not to mention the additional affects that would certainly kill people given the loss of power would also affect anything with an engine and anyone on any kind of life support.
*** Circuit breakers, surge protectors?
**** Not relevant. The pulse works by basically being picked up like a radio wave by ''any'' conducting material and converted directly into electricity therein -- and this will happen on ''both sides'' of a fuse, breaker or surge protector, because it happens ''everywhere'' in ''all'' electronics in range, ''at once''. The pulse doesn't politely limit itself to the "inbound" side of electrical connections.
* In ''The Return Of [[Godzilla]]'' a mild EMP effect was the side effect of prematurely detonating a nuclear weapon launched to kill Godzilla.
* The nuclear bomb in the [[Made for TV Movie]] ''[[Medusas Child]]''.
* The eponymous [[Kill Sat]] in the [[James Bond (
* The "Ion Cannon" in ''[[The Empire Strikes Back]]'' was a cannon that disabled an entire Star Destroyer without destroying it. "Ion" weapons in future installments of the [[Star Wars Expanded Universe|Expanded Universe]] (particularly video games) specialize in disrupting machinery.
** But without permanently shredding the electronics as [[
*** It's implied in one of the stories (IG-88's section in ''Tales of the Bounty Hunters'') that it ''does'' permanently destroy circuity and such, but there are usually ways to auto-repair the damaged paths. Hence the temporary shutdown period, between "destroyed" and "repaired enough to function".
* Shows up in ''[[Escape From
* In ''[[
== [[Literature]] ==
* In [[Harry Turtledove]]'s ''[[
* In William Gibson's ''[[Neuromancer]]'', the US military flight unit "Operation Screaming Fist", led by Colonel Willis Corto (Armitage), is taken down by Russian EMP weapons.
** In the ''Neuromancer'' universe, many companies use Artificial Intelligences to run their computing needs, especially security. Notably, there is a regulatory agency (the Turings) that is aware that [[
* EMP (especially handheld EMP) play a key part of [[Orson Scott Card]]'s ''[[
* In ''All Frequency Jamming/Full Band Interception'' by Chinese Sci-Fi writer Cixin Liu, the future Russian (or Chinese, as it's changed in the Taiwanese version) army saved themselves from the conquer of NATO by using EMP in the most [[Badass]] way
* ''[[
* In ''[[Moon Over Soho]]'' the cover story for the [[Masquerade]] is that a suspect premises had a miniature EMP bomb in it and [[Suspiciously Specific Denial|not a magical demon trap]].
* In Max Barry's ''Machine Man'', love interest Lola's {{spoiler|[[Heart Trauma]]}} is mended with a model that discharges an EMP when she gets excited. It does considerable damage and ends up as a {{spoiler|[[Chekhov's Gun]]}}.
* In William R. Fortschen's ''One Second After'', an EMP is generated when several nukes are detonated in the atmosphere over the US.
* A key element of the plot of Charles Sheffield's novel ''[[
== [[Live
* In ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'', an EMP is generated by a Naquadah generator overload and is [[Stargate Atlantis
** Also used in ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' to remotely knock out an alien device through the Stargate (it didn't work).
* [[The BBC]]'s nuclear holocaust drama ''[[Threads]]'' had an EMP knocking out Britain's electronics before the missiles strike.
* Also in the US [[Made for TV Movie]] nuclear holocaust drama [[The Day After]].
* [[Jericho]]{{context}}
* An EMP is used to disable the robot angels in the ''[[
** "Age of Steel", Mrs. Moore uses an EMP bomb to disable a cyberman, who revealed to {{spoiler|bride to be}}. This gives the Doctor a clue on the effects of humans being [[Unwilling Roboticisation|"upgraded"]].
* In the first season of ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'', {{spoiler|HRG got Nuclear Ted to emit an EMP instead of his normal nukes in order to shut out the power at Primatech so they could escape.}}
* In ''[[Dark Angel]]'' the United States is a third world country because of a terrorist EMP attack.
* In ''24'' Day 4, a defense contractor deploys an EMP taking out several square blocks of downtown [[Los Angeles]]. During Day 8, Samir's terrorists sneak an EMP bomb into {{spoiler|CTU New York}} with an "escaped" hostage to {{spoiler|disable the Manhattan radiation sensors.}}
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*** Solves one issue, raises another: if no one has personal phones anymore (all cells are NSA issued), how is {{spoiler|Dana}} communicating with the terrorists without being noticed?
*** Actually she eventually does get tracked down and caught precisely because they traced the NSA-issued phone to her.
* ''[[Leverage]]'' features both a handheld version and the much larger bomb version. The handheld version is a much smaller version of the kind that is in development for use in police pursuits. The bomb version actually averts the mistake of Ocean's Eleven, [[The Smart Guy|Hardison]] explains that setting off the device would make them the largest terrorists in American history.
* In the [[Bugs]] episode "''Pulse''", the EMP is referred to as a "pulse bomb", which the protagonists use to escape a heavily armed villain.
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* ''[[Paranoia]]'' had the Gauss Gun, a directional EMP weapon useful against robots and other electronic equipment.
* ''[[Warhammer
* ''[[GURPS]]: Ultra-Tech'' has EMP warheads for properly sized projectiles. Microwave disruptors use a similar technology but are somewhat less effective. Oddly they don't fry the system, instead the effect leaves computers temporarily "unconscious".
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** ''[[Fallout]]''
*** ''New Vegas'' also adds a "Pulse Gun," an energy weapon implied to be an ''electromagnetic'' pulse gun, as it has the same damage bonus vs robots and [[Powered Armor]] as EMP grenades.
** ''[[Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
** ''[[Battlefield (
** ''[[Halo]] 3''
** ''[[
*** ''[[Deus Ex: Human Revolution
** ''[[Project Snowblind]]'' [[Spiritual Successor|naturally]] includes them and forms the main plot line.
** In ''[[James Bond]]: Everything or Nothing'', EMP grenades are a part of his arsenal.
** Certain rockets have this as an effect in ''[[
** EMP grenades in [[Transformers: War for Cybertron]] scramble the HUD and cause static to appear on screen, while leaving movement and weapons operational. They're used by the Scout class.
* ''[[Outpost]] 2''{{context}}
* In ''[[Banjo-Kazooie|Banjo-Tooie]]'', Mumbo can use an EMP spell in Grunty Industries to shut down factory machinery.
* ''[[
** The EMP also eliminates the energy of any units that use energy for abilities, so it can be quite helpful against Terran armies as well.
** It even works on zerg casters, even though their "energy" is their internal supply of symbiotes and biotoxins. [[Acceptable Breaks From Reality|But at least it's consistent]].
** [[Star Craft 2]] features the ability on the Ghost. But on a lower scale, only stripping a certain amount of energy off units.
* ''[[Crysis (
* In ''[[System Shock]]'' the Magpulser is available. It looks strange, but yes, it harms robots a lot (200% damage). It also lives up to its name by barely affecting cyborgs (50% damage) and not affecting mutants at all (0% damage).
** There are also a couple of other EMP weapons, specifically the EMP grenade, which, when detonated, can screw up your (computer-assisted) interface if you're too close to the blast. It also drains your battery for some reason. There's a more powerful land mind version as well.
** Sequel ''[[System Shock 2]]'' has the EMP rifle, which absolutely devastates robotic ''and'' cybernetic enemies (the cyborgs have all their life-support systems in their mechanical parts, meaning that damaging them will kill them), but is absolutely worthless against a purely biological enemy. Since some of the most powerful enemies in the game are biological, it limits the effectiveness of the gun at specific sections of the game.
* The ''[[Dark Forces Saga]]'' feature an EMP-shooting gun which is mostly for killing robots.
* ''[[Command
** In Generals, China has an EMP bomb dropped by an airplane. Pretty effective if used with other special abilities to destroy an enemy force or as a starter for an attack on the enemy base. And it looked [[Rule of Cool|cool]].
** Tiberium Wars has a tech building that can be captured to grant an EMP attack that temporarily disables enemy buildings.
* In ''[[Modern Warfare]] 2'', {{spoiler|a nuclear missile is detonated in the upper atmosphere over America, blacking out the eastern states and causing the player to dodge helicopter rain.}} The player also gets an EMP in multiplayer if they get a [[Kill Streak]] of 15, which disables enemy electronics, including [[Interface Screw|removing their radar, ammo count and the game score]]. It still fails physics forever, of course, because the team that used it is unaffected and the effect only lasts for about two minutes. Modern Warfare 3's Multiplayer introduces EMP grenades that become available at Level 21. The EMP is applied only to players and their electronics caught in the blast radius and the effect lasts for a much shorter period of time.
** [[Acceptable Breaks From Reality]]
* The Space Pirates of ''[[Metroid]]'' occasionally use EMP grenades. Steam Lords of Elysia can also generate one as an attack. Presumably, Samus' suit is well protected as neither of these actually does anything to her suit beyond standard shield drain. Some special electricity based attacks, however, cause [[Interface Screw|static to appear on the HUD]].
* In ''[[Ratchet: Deadlocked]]'', your Battle Bots have EMP grenades equipped that allow the temporary deactivation of [[Demonic Spiders|Stalker Turrets]] and other electronic obstacles.
* In [[Command
* ''[[Splinter Cell]]: Conviction'' has a plot focused on detonating several EMP bombs in [[Washington DC]]. Sam actually gets a backpack that has a built-in EMP generator fairly early in the game. It can only be used three times per level (no recharging it like other gadgets) and the effect is purely temporary, lasting ten seconds at most. He also has access to EMP grenades, which are even less effective, but ranged.
* In [[
* In [[Need for Speed]]: Hot Pursuit 2k10, both the police and the racers use EMP devices on each other. In the "Porsche Patrol" cop event, you gain an achievement/trophy by using the EMP weapon to take out the computer-controlled gas/electric 918 Spyder Hybrid concept.
* In ''[[Battlefield: Bad Company
* ''[[Bubble Tanks]] Tower Defense 1.5'' introduces the EMP creep, which explodes into an electromagnetic pulse upon defeat. This disables all the towers around it, and as such makes it an annoying foe to fight.
* ''[[Perfect Dark]]'' has EMP mines which have to be placed on the computer terminals to disable the security system in the first level. Unfortunately, they don't appear in other levels with security cameras.
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* ''[[Transformers Animated]]'': Ratchet has a wrist-mounted "EMP generator" that can focus an electromagnetic pulse into a ''beam''. It can temporarily knock out most Cybertronians, but Ratchet prefers to use it as a surgical tool, and then only rarely. At full power, it can {{spoiler|wipe an Autobot's entire memory, which accidentally happened to Arcee during the Great War}}, hence his reluctance to use it. He and Bumblebee can temporarily knock a flying Decepticon out of the air by combining their normal weapons (electric stingers + magnets).
** Team Chaar's Blackout, like the movie 'bot who inspired him, can create an electromagnetic shockwave that knocks out nearby machinery...and then bring them back online [[Percussive Maintenance|by doing it again]].
* The ''[[
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* ''[[Megatokyo]]'' Largo uses one as a rickroll.
* ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'':
** Aylee from
** Torg at one point [http://archives.sluggy.com/book.php?chapter=61#2010-08-17 used] an EMP bomb to fry Dr. Nofun's lab. That's also how he discovered "Doesn't hurt ''people''!" comes with "...unless some fool stands right next to it, of course".
* An EMP effect was used by the protagonists of ''[[Molten Blade]]'' to aid their escape from a research facility, generated from a device referred to as an "e-bomb" by one of the characters.
* In the ''[[Bob and George]]'' comics, during the ''[[
* {{spoiler|Doctor Mittelmind}} in ''[[Girl Genius]]'' [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20100917 has] an implanted "pulse cannon" which disabled most hardware in the room, and they're lucky [[Explosive Leash|their collars]] didn't go off.
{{quote|
** Not to mention The Lion's “roar,” an <s>electromagnet</s>
*** At least the Lion was made to knock out big things (specifically the Castle), and long-term. The next time they did it accidentally, small clanks suddenly began to keel over. Oh, and Agatha's necklace shut down. Oops.
* In ''[[
== Real Life ==
* Naturally occurring magnetic storms can be quite rough. The strongest known was [[w:Solar storm of 1859|Carrington Event]] (1–2 September 1859) induced by solar events, that took out the entire telegraph system in Europe and North America and parts of Australia and Asia. The strongest ''measured'' was Quebec Storm (13-14 March 1989), tripped enough of fuses on the grid to leave more than six million people for nine hours. The largest geomagnetic storms of solar origin measured in the latest decades were Halloween Storms (29-31 October 2003) - a big blackout happened in Sweden, though still less than a hour long, and some transformers burned out even in South Africa. Naturally, such things happened before late XIX century too, but that's known only by auroras observed far from the polar regions.
** If you want to know what could this do now, there's a study done for the insurance industry: ''[//www.lloyds.com/news-and-risk-insight/risk-reports/library/natural-environment/solar-storm Solar storm risk to the North American electric grid]''. The conclusion is, Carrington level events are expectable once per 100-250 years, Quebec level events once per 35-70 years. Depending on things like soil conductivity in the affected area and just how thoroughly the grid is hardened, damage can vary a lot, but results of a big one can still be comparable to major earthquakes and volcano eruptions.
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[[Category:Applied Phlebotinum]]
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