"Richard Clark" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 7 Oct 2009 00:26:44 +0100, "christofire"
wrote:

If you believe that's the basis of EMP then I won't argue with your
opinion.

Hi Chris,

Your statement implies that a "basis" can lead to some new unique RF
phenomenon.

If EMP is co-opted for some trendy single purpose definition that
denudes the former understanding of its general (and still no less
applicable) meaning, then, yes, we have descended into opinionated
belief systems which depend upon faith.

What you infer by "basis" is that this particular pulse (with the
unstated nuclear detonation, or an e-bomb as the initiator) is somehow
different from all other pulses. No, not in the least. By whatever
"basis," there are very ordinary formulas that allow for rise time,
fall time, pulse duration, magnitude, and such artifacts as ringing
(undershoot, overshoot, crest, and the rest).

"Basis" is not another engineering term for magnitude. What was
astonishing through nuclear detonation was corralled and managed into
an e-bomb, which is nothing more remarkable than clever engineering of
shorting a capacitor. Each of the three could be cleverly induced to
give the same RF signature - what price "basis?" It happens a
trillion times a day with all the microwaves ovens on this earth.

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC


The effects on equipment of repetitive cycles of incident electric field
strength with alternating polarity, constant period and equal rise and fall
times (AKA a sine wave), whether continuous or 'pulsed', are different from
the effects of an incident pulse of electric field strength with a short
rise time that is not broken up into harmonic cycles. The latter can induce
a high voltage pulse that is wideband in the same manner as the result of a
lightning strike, and this can propagate through an installation causing
damage. The former cannot do that. Of course, I appreciate the difference
is the spectral width of the incident 'signal'.

The example you gave was of the former type, radiation from a microwave
oven, whereas I had written about the latter type. An open microwave oven
may well cook a human but it won't have much effect on a power cable feeding
a computer other than, perhaps, melting the insulation! A wideband pulse of
electric field of sufficicient strength will damage the computer. But,
evidently, you disagree ...

Chris