Crisis warning - solar flares

[Walsingham]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/7...evastation.html

 

Summary: In 2013 solar flares are likely to wreak havoc on electronic equipment. Proper havoc.

[Gorth]

I knew it, the Mayans were wrong. 2013 it is then...

 

Time to stock up on matches, canned food and bottled water? If it hits Earth like an oversized EMP grenade, we might want to practise living without internet and computers for a while. Thinking about it, those were actually the "good" old days

[Humodour]

Scientists are aware of the immense power of the sun's solar flares, but modern human history has never experienced a proper solar storm the likes of which happens every 100 years or so. The kind that would obliterate much of Earth's electronics, and certainly all satellites.

 

Chilling when you think about it.

 

http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/04/26/1743255

http://news.slashdot.org/story/10/03/01/01...diation-Katrina

[Irrelevant]

Cool, the time of books is upon us.

[Walsingham]

If I faraday cage my office will that help?

[Wrath of Dagon]

Meh, more panic mongering.

[Oblarg]

Meh, more panic mongering.

 

It's not panic mongering if it's true.

 

A large solar flare would be...pretty destructive to our society.

[mr insomniac]

As long as I can play Mass Effect 3, Halflife2 Episode 3, Portal 2 and Alpha Protocol 2 before it all comes crashing down, I'll be happy.

[HoonDing]

Solar flares? Pah, gimme the real deal: a gamma-ray burst.

[Oner]

Aaaaw, and here I was, thinking I could play Hearts on Fire while the world around me burns.

[Gorgon]

Solar flares would kill the power grid and fry anything electrical that was on. That would probably mean a couple of months of chaos and a couple of years of making due while we reconstituted the infrastructure. Not Armageddon though.

[LadyCrimson]

So....late 2012 sounds like a good time to pull most of our money out of the computerized/electronic banking/investment system & start stuffing both cash and bricks of gold in the mattress.

 

Snail mail might become popular again! Pony Express comeback?

And imagine...a world without working ATM's for long periods. THE HORROR!

[Humodour]

Meh, more panic mongering.

 

Which part of this don't you believe?

[Calax]

I think Dagon is believing that Nasa is just full of garbage.

 

I'd be interesting if this did happen as you'd probably see the world population dip significantly because things wouldn't be very organized for a bit (I doubt it'd turn into widespread orgy of destruction). Also depending on how things go, we might have a case where global travel was stopped for quite a bit as they figured out how to get planes working again. Well, at least quick global travel.

 

Doubt it'd be long enough for genetic variation between populations to actually crop up.

[Thorton_AP]

These events seem cyclical. What happened 11 years ago? Or 22 years ago? Since one happens every 22 years, while the other every 11 years.

 

 

"A more likely scenario was that large areas, including northern Europe and Britain which have

[Humodour]

These events seem cyclical. What happened 11 years ago? Or 22 years ago? Since one happens every 22 years, while the other every 11 years.

 

 

"A more likely scenario was that large areas, including northern Europe and Britain which have

[Calax]

Well, supposedly this is a much larger flare than the 11 year one. I'll know more as it approaches (as I'll actually be taking classes in it) but I'm guessing that not only will this be fairly large, but we might see some data damage as the storm is MAGNETIC in part.

[WILL THE ALMIGHTY]

Oh this'll be fun.

[Humodour]

The other thing is that for some reason or another, there's a gigantic hole in the Earth's magnetic shield at the moment: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/themis/n...aky_shield.html

[Walsingham]

Wait, so it could affect ALL the electrics in the house? With a possibility of widespread fires?

 

I'm thinking we should train the neighbourhood up as a firefighting auxiliary.

[Moose]

Maybe it'll just hit the pacific and we'll all be fine. That's how it works right?

[Calax]

considering earth rotates, no.

[Moose]

So the solar flare will last over 4 hours?

[Humodour]

So the solar flare will last over 4 hours?

 

That's not how it works. A solar flare isn't like a laser, hitting a precise spot. It's a wind of highly energetic particles that plays havoc with, and gets dispersed across, earth's various electromagnetic systems.

 

It might be fair to say, however, that the night-time side of the earth would escape the damage. I'm no expert on geophysics though.

[Moose]

Like a hair drier into a bowl of soup?