• Welcome to Overclockers Forums! Join us to reply in threads, receive reduced ads, and to customize your site experience!

EMP case shielding

Overclockers is supported by our readers. When you click a link to make a purchase, we may earn a commission. Learn More.
Status
Not open for further replies.

JerkasaurusRex

Member
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
Location
New York, New York
I live in New York and we are a prime target for attack. What i am worried about is nukes. When their is a nuclear explosion their is also an EMP with it. How would i go about shielding my computer from the EMP? I thoguht about lead but i remembered that is for radiation and kryptonite. How can i shield my computer and case from EMP so it wont fry?
 
Well I'm pretty sure that it is lead shielding that you would want. However, I'm not really seeing the justification for it. Unless it is designed for an EMP effect, won't the nuclear explosion only really generate a field close to the actual area of detonation? If that is the case, then I would think that you'd have a bit more to worry about than your computer :p
If you really want to, then go for it. Post pics when you're done.
 
lead dosnt protect against EMP. Lead is for radiation and kryptonite, not EMP. I will post pics once i figure out wut material is good and how to do it. I justn eed to know wut material to use. Anybody know?
 
yea,.. i mean really. are you kidding? your close enough to a nuclear blast to be affected by emp and your worried about how this may compromise your computer? man, youd be dead, everyone around will be dead. a computer will be worthless. even if you made it the power would be out.
 
Power wouldnt be out casue power plants are EMP shielded, I wouldnt be dead if i am over 20 miles away from blast, just tumored or something and i found out wutt protects against EMP. Sealed metal. How would i seal my case in a metal box and still be able to turn it on and off?
 
What you talking about is the secondary effects when it travels through the power lines. Any "True UPS" is the only devise that can stop 100% of it but any UPS with line condoning and surge protection should do fine
 
A RF EMP like that created by a nuclear explosion is a big burst of radio waves across the bands. Any exposed electrical wire not covered by a grounded shield will act as an antenna and have high voltages and currents induced in it as the EMP flux moves across it.

Shielding your computer is one step. The next, and far more challenging, is to obtain an isolated power source. No matter how shielded your PC and your house is, the EMP voltages will make their way through the shielding via electrical power cables. You need to isolate the PC completely, either by a self contained power source, or EMP shunts like the military uses. Those are devices that are wired in series with power input, and they shunt power input to ground nanoseconds after they detect an abrupt surge in voltage and current. Glorified surge suppressors, really.

EMP shunts are highly specialized equipment and I don't even know of they're available commercially easily. But this is all academic. The threat you're worrying about doesn't exist, and while it's fun to think about, it's not worth the effort pursuing.
 
I guess, i was probably on a schizophrenic trip when i thoguht up all this and no a case wouldnt protect it from EMP cause it is not sealed and has holes like for fans and stuff. Shunts sounds like a good idea. I will look into it.
 
For EMP shielding, you don't need a solid metal case. One where the holes are smaller than the wavelength of the radio pulse is good enough.
 
Well you could always use aluminum foil for wall paper and blinds then just ground it all :p oh and you'll also need a steal door
 
I would need it to be SEALED though so jsut wrapping it in tin foild wont do much. I dont think tin foil would be thick enough anyway. The point is that the metal absorbs and like enggates and ground the exessive voltage from EMP. If it is too thin it wont ground all of it and comp will still fry.
 
as i said above tin foild wont work cause it is too thin and not dence enough. Tin foil is only good to wear as a hat to keep the governemnt from monitoring and controlling your mind. I would need a think piece of steel or iron to counteract the EMP. So i would need to plate the whole room in steel or iron to EMP proof it and get the shunts for outlets and stuff so plugged in stuff wont burn.
 
It sounds like it may be cheaper to find yourself an underground fallout shelter but FYI they sell "all steal" buildings I am sure you could retrofit the steal walls to fit a regular home and don't forget ceilings and floors ;)
 
Well i could move comp into basement cause basement is underground but i wana keep it in my bedroom so i dont ave to be in basement all time. Letm e calculate my room size. Length is about 15 ft, width is like 10 ft, hight is 8 ft. So 15x10x8+15+10+8=1233 ft^3. How much would 1233 ft of steel or iron sheets about 1/2 inch - 1 inch thick cost? Also about how much would those shunts cost?
 
A nuclear detonation produces a huge surge of electromagnetic radiation across the entire spectrum. The lower the wavelength, the farther the EM radiation travels, so microwave and radio are what would concern you, since if your computer is close enough to need shielding from X-rays and gamma, protecting your processor would probably be less important than, say, extinguishing your house. Good materials for shielding Radio Frequency radiation are steel, brass, and silver. Here is a link if youre interested: http://www.thermaflo.com/rfshields.shtml

Nuclear detonations also produce a large magnetic field, like how your speakers have a magnetic field. Magnetic fields also cause electrical surges (generators use spinning magnetic fields to "pump" electrons). Good materials for shielding from magnetic fields are iron, steel, and anything else that a magnet will stick to. These materials are reffered to as "permeable". In this case, you arent so much blocking incoming radiation as you are letting the permeable material soak up the field and divert it around your computer. Here is another link, this one to a site offering magnetic shielding: http://www.advancemag.com/
It has some really irritating midi music playing so turn down your speakers before you go there.

Finally, Nuclear detonations release a lot of Nuclear Radiation, which is different from the above two types of radiation. This is where Neutrons, Protons, and Electrons bust loose from a decomposing atom and fly away at high speed, smacking other atoms and altering them chemically. Alpha and Beta particles arent really a threat to your computer because they generally cant penetrate much more than a sheet of paper, but Gamma particles (neutrons) take a hell of a lot of lead and other dense materials to stop them. So you would constantly have neutrons literally whizzing through your computer and smacking atoms in your ram and hard drive platters and occasionally changing 1's to 0's and your data would get all corrupted and your computer would crash frequently. Go here to learn about Nuclear Radiation: http://science.howstuffworks.com/nuclear.htm
I highly reccomend www.howstuffworks.com in general for learning about things.

So, in summation, I posted this mainly for academic purposes. While you CAN shield your computer to some extent, maybe even enough to keep it working after some kind of detonation/accident so long as the event occurs far enough away, its really just a matter of degree. You can not 100% shield it from something happening 20 miles away or less, but if that happens you really have bigger problems.

Im sorry, I know my grammar is atrocious but its 5:52 am and I havent slept yet so I ask that you forgive me. =p
 
The best way to shield your computer would be to have a second computer in a protective box. You can take it out once a week or whatever to sync the data files you've accumulated. There's really too much to seal with power wires, printers, card readers, speakers, monitors, keyboards...you get the idea.
The only way to do it completely (on a normal budget) is to have a sealed secondary (and unplugged) system.

Oh by the way, you'd need a monitor, keyboard mouse, printer etc in there too. They all have IC's in them and all would be rendered non-functional by EMP (as if you didn't have enough to worry about).
Have fun!
 
Be sure to use optical leads for data cables to minimize on antennae connected to the box.

As mentioned before the metal case of a PC is a good shield, that's why it's difficult to have Bluetooth/wireless modules on motherboards, they can't get the signal through the case, generally they have external aerials.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back