Electro Magnetic Pulse

[AirborneRob]

Re: Electro Magnetic Pulse

 

No, not electrocute, just a temporary stun or dazing effect similar to being tased.

[IndianaJoe3]

Re: Electro Magnetic Pulse

 

No' date=' not electrocute, just a temporary stun or dazing effect similar to being tased.[/quote']

 

No. Humans aren't conductive enough. I think it's possible to electrocute someone who is holding on to a large antenna when the EMP hits, though.

[Sean Waters]

Re: Electro Magnetic Pulse

 

An EMP creates an electrical potential - a voltage - across distance - the further away you are the lower the potential - which means that if you have a long power line, one end near the blast, the other further away, you can generate an enormous potential across the power line, possibly enough to melt it completely.

 

A human is relatively thin and, even if you were standing side on to the EMP with your feet wide apart the potential between them will be relatively limited by distance. If you are in a high desnity magnetic field and there is a powerful enough EMP you could generate enough potential between one side of the human and the other to eletrocute them, perhaps fatally. Allthough the conduction method is somewhat different in metals and bags of salty water (free electron flow against ion transfer), both are conductors. Hell, rubber is a conductor, and if you drop a big enough potential across it, electricity will flow through it.

 

Tasing is simply electrocution, but electrocution using the right voltage, current and frequency alternation to disrupt rather than cook the human nervous system. I doubt you could ever 'tune' an EMP to be an effective mass taser, but an electric shock can have a similar but much less controlled effect.

 

Mind you, none of this matters as we can make up the science as we go - I mean, setting off EMP bombs in The Matrix, all they needed to do was power down, and the squiddies weren't built with Faraday cages or Tempest shielding (see above). If you want an EMP that affects humans and machines as a taser, go for it.

[AirborneRob]

Re: Electro Magnetic Pulse

 

Thats cool, i was curious as to whether it could happen like a taser. I can create a different effect for that, maybe a Mental Entangle to simulate the short circuit effect from being zapped by a taser.

[prestidigitator]

Re: Electro Magnetic Pulse

 

Yeah, not really. But hey, anything can happen in a superheroic game, eh?

[Tasha]

Re: Electro Magnetic Pulse

 

OK here are some articles on EMP most deal with Nuclear EMP which is the version that will be the most destructive over a large area.

 

http://www.futurescience.com/emp/emp-protection.html

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/archive/index.php/t-389228.html

http://www.aussurvivalist.com/nuclear/empprotection.htm

 

Of the three, I like the AusSurvivalist article the best. It seems to do a great job of explaining what EMP is and isn't (ie it's not a lightning bolt). It also covers the problems with protecting circuitry from it (powered off in a good Faraday cage seems to be the best protection).

 

It seems that the greatest damage comes from the huge spike in induced Amperage (which only lasts a milisecond so simple electronics like old cars might be more survivable modern computerized cars).

http://www.howstuffworks.com/radio.htm

http://science.howstuffworks.com/induction-info.htm

 

Should explain how/why EMP kills electrical circuitry. Being an electronics person and not a radio person, I forgot about how antenna work, and that is important for understanding how EMP can hurt items that have no other electrical current being passed through them (ie water pipes and Railroad tracks).

 

When it comes down to it. Champions is about coming up with plausible special effects for powers. Realism is something that is usually set aside or at worse ignored completely. Always remember if you generate Magnetism you can generate electricity and if you generate electricity you also generate magnetism. These two things are what make the modern world possible.

 

I guess what I am saying is that AirborneRob's character that generates strong magnetic fields could certainly generate enough electrical current to KO a person (hell he could probably just as easily kill his target with said current). I am sure that he could do some taser like effect or some sort of muscle locking entangle. perhaps by inducing an low amperage current to the muscles that causes the muscles to spasm (though IRL it would be hard to do without causing the heart muscle to do the same thing thereby causing cardiac arrest).

 

BTW if you are writing up a character that uses magnetism and high frequency electricity as their powers, you should know about he father of Alternating Current, Radio and a bunch of other stuff related to AC that make our modern world possible.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicola_Tesla

[AirborneRob]

Re: Electro Magnetic Pulse

 

OK here are some articles on EMP most deal with Nuclear EMP which is the version that will be the most destructive over a large area.

 

http://www.futurescience.com/emp/emp-protection.html

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/archive/index.php/t-389228.html

http://www.aussurvivalist.com/nuclear/empprotection.htm

 

Of the three, I like the AusSurvivalist article the best. It seems to do a great job of explaining what EMP is and isn't (ie it's not a lightning bolt). It also covers the problems with protecting circuitry from it (powered off in a good Faraday cage seems to be the best protection).

 

It seems that the greatest damage comes from the huge spike in induced Amperage (which only lasts a milisecond so simple electronics like old cars might be more survivable modern computerized cars).

http://www.howstuffworks.com/radio.htm

http://science.howstuffworks.com/induction-info.htm

 

Should explain how/why EMP kills electrical circuitry. Being an electronics person and not a radio person, I forgot about how antenna work, and that is important for understanding how EMP can hurt items that have no other electrical current being passed through them (ie water pipes and Railroad tracks).

 

When it comes down to it. Champions is about coming up with plausible special effects for powers. Realism is something that is usually set aside or at worse ignored completely. Always remember if you generate Magnetism you can generate electricity and if you generate electricity you also generate magnetism. These two things are what make the modern world possible.

 

I guess what I am saying is that AirborneRob's character that generates strong magnetic fields could certainly generate enough electrical current to KO a person (hell he could probably just as easily kill his target with said current). I am sure that he could do some taser like effect or some sort of muscle locking entangle. perhaps by inducing an low amperage current to the muscles that causes the muscles to spasm (though IRL it would be hard to do without causing the heart muscle to do the same thing thereby causing cardiac arrest).

 

BTW if you are writing up a character that uses magnetism and high frequency electricity as their powers, you should know about he father of Alternating Current, Radio and a bunch of other stuff related to AC that make our modern world possible.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicola_Tesla

 

I read through the first link and it's pretty good. Lol, definately gives you pause for thought.