The Sun ejects often the coronal mass that lay back on it most of the time. On some occasions, this coronal mass escapes its gravitational field, and it is projected into space.
As space is mostly empty, these particles travel without disturbing anyone. But, sometimes, our poor planet lies on the path of this mass. In these cases, you should know how to protect yourself and your electronics from solar flares.
For an X-class flare or CME targeting our planet, turn off your electrical distribution from the main breaker, your solar panels have to be switched off too.
In principle, our atmosphere protects us from deadly solar radiation. Practically, it happens that the amount of particles is so high that it managed to distort the Earth’s magnetic field letting much more charged particles to go through it. That’s when a faraday cage is needed.
The consequence of solar flares
We will see the northern lights where we shouldn’t see it, communications by air will be disrupted or, as in 1859, the consequences could be more important. The storm (actually the second solar storm of the Carrington event) was so powerful that the sky has been enlightened enough to easily read the newspaper on the street at night.
But what concerns us, are the consequences on our infrastructures. In 1859 the use of electricity was just beginning, however, a telegraph system was existing in some Western countries.
Here, the consequences have been very noticeable: interrupted communications, electrical outages, electrocuted operators and Telegraph stations destroyed by fires caused by the electric tensions traveling into the ground.
But that was before… Other equipment using electricity is ubiquitous in our environment. They are essential to the functioning of society and the economy.
If an EMP happens, we will return to the stone age. No more electricity in our house, no more usable vehicles, no more communication and no more access to our banking information. Likely, all computer types of equipment would be gone. You will stay fully functional if you know how to protect yourself and your electronics from solar flares.
An EMP, to scale it on a continental event, for example, the American continent, would be truly catastrophic: 90% of the population would die within a few months and it would take over 10 years to rebuild an electrical and computer network at the height of what it was before the event.
Several countries are working on EMP bombs. The detonation of an atomic bomb in high altitude will produce an EMP at the scale of a continent, and the power of a non-atomic bomb, will produce the same or similar effect but more localized.
There is no doubt that if a war between the big powers happens, we would use these weapons to put the enemy on the ground without a shot being fired, and this could happen as soon as one of the belligerents would realize that the war cannot be resolved quickly or without large losses.
In this context, it is wise to be prepared. Note that batteries are generally not affected by the EMP, as long as they are not connected to a system (not ina circuit).
You can access the reports and timing of solar flares from spaceweather.com
So how to protect yourself and your electronics from solar flares?
The cage of Faraday
This is the only parade possible and it deserves to be accessible. Better than that: almost all households can have one and it is extremely easy to make. The cage of Faraday isolates what is located inside the external electromagnetic currents.
And it’s very effective if you want to know how to protect yourself and your electronics from solar flares. The air flow in air or in a vacuum, but as soon as they touch a conductive surface, it is stuck.
The idea is to create a space protected by a conductive surface so the waves don’t penetrate there. Note that every microwave oven is a Faraday cage.
This cage keeps the impulses of the magneto inside, but it will also block those who come from the outside. Keep your microwave ovens that no longer works to protect your sensitive equipment.
However, the microwave does not protect from waves whose length is smaller than the holes that are on the fence of the porthole.
The reason is simple: the Faraday cage protects the wavelengths greater than the size of the openings. In the case of the microwave, the openings are less than 2 mm, the waves with a length shorter than the openings will pass.
You can also find a Faraday bag suited to protect all of your family’s electronics.
What do you put in a cage of Faraday?
We want to protect the equipment that is critical. In the case where an electromagnetic pulse or solar waves that would destroy everything. Many will have the idea to put electronic documents in their phones or their laptop.
This is not the way it has to be done if you know how to protect yourself and your electronics from solar flares. If a piece of information is important, it should be on your USB or SD card.
If you open and close the cage every day to access your laptop, you put the content at risk at each opening. Don’t forget that there can be a solar storm without your knowledge.
How to make a Faraday cage?
To lake a Faraday cage, you will need:
- A large format iron container (Container of 1 kg of coffee)
- A plastic lid conserve
- Aluminum foil to cover the opening
- Thick paper or cardboard with glue or polypropylene film (saran wrap)
Steps:
- Clean the inside of the can.
- Cover the walls of the container with paper or cardboards or pack your items to protect in the film of polypropylene or even in Ziploc bags
- Put your objects in the conserve
- Place the aluminum foil on the opening of the can to cover it completely.
- Fix the cover
- The film should pack the items so that they do not touch directly –the box, it’s imperative.
With that, your equipment can be protected against the IEM (EMP) resulting from solar flares quickly, efficiently and inexpensively.
Suggestions:
If you store electronic types of equipment, I suggest you store them in a Faraday cage (the one you created or a microwave). It takes substantially the same space in a shelf, it’s not cost much and it protects critical equipment of the consequences of solar flares. If you have a solar charger, it will help you charge your batteries and be up again.
