Ok, ok, ok. Don't even go there! I'm not a Doomsdayer - but I may be a Day Dreamer. I'm fascinated by "what if" scenarios. Join me for a cup of tea and a chocolate bar whilst I contemplate this.
What if the perfect-solar-storm-in-2012 theory produces a giant EMP (electromagnetic pulse)?
Are we forever knocked back to the 1800's?
Do satellites fall from the sky?
Do all of the electronic gadgets everyone buys for Christmas become useless paperweights for eternity?
Do airplanes plummet to earth?
Do newer car with computerized engines stop dead in their tracks? (Probably not a good time to own an electric car, huh?)
Should I go buy a '57 Chevy or a '64 Mustang? (That sounds good, EMP or no EMP!)
Or should I tootle up to Amish country and buy one of those buggies we saw? (That sounds good, too, and we have just the horse to pull it back in Texas!)
A teeny-tiny bit of Googling answers some of my questions.
Yes, a solar storm will produce an EMP, but it would have to be the PERFECT solar storm.
The spot on the sun where the solar flare happens would have to be aimed directly at earth.
It would have to be a MONSTER event.
EARTH would have to be rotated so that our magnetic field was perfectly aligned with the solar event.
Okay, so let's say all of that is lined up and "it" happens.
In the very, very first place, we'd have about three days to see this puppy comin' - lots of time to prepare.
Believe it or not, our GOVERNMENT (or NASA) has actually thought about this and has contingency plans: Our satellites would be put into "safe" mode so electronics wouldn't burn out, ergo they won't just drop from the sky. (Well, they wouldn't "drop" anyway. Their orbits would deteriorate and eventually they'd come down. But even that won't happen if they're put in a "safe" mode.)
I suppose if we put all of our electronic Christmas presents somewhere EMP's can't reach - or simply turn them off or pluck out their batteries maybe? - they would be fine to pull out in a few days and reconnect with those satellites.
Airlines have also got contingency plans in place: they will either not fly, or re-route their flights away from the solar zap.
Our computerized car engines? Maybe just pull the battery out of it, too? (The Amish buggy still sounds good, though :-)
What about America's power grid? Well, that is a problem. It definitely would get zapped. America has three separate power grids: one covering 39 eastern states, one covering 11 western states, and one just for Texas (I suppose Hawaii has one of it's own, too.) Probably all the transformers and transmission lines would be fried. About the only thing electric companies could do is prepare by stockpiling transformers and power lines. Obviously big cities would be the first to get re-wired. Maybe if it's winter, the northern states become a priority; if it's summer, the southern states. Electric cars wouldn't get recharged for awhile!
I'm thinkin' things would get interesting - but not life-shattering. Guess I'll go back to wrapping Granpa's Christmas gift...
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