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Cosmic Weather

Snoo

The Legend
Very possible event which no body knows about. I just hope I'm not around to be part of it.
 
UGH I hate reading about all of this 2012 stuff! It makes me scared and depressed, and then I just worry about dying. So, I vow not to read anymore about 2012 from now on!

Still, interesting I suppose.
 

Snoo

The Legend
LiveForTheLaunch said:
UGH I hate reading about all of this 2012 stuff! It makes me scared and depressed, and then I just worry about dying. So, I vow not to read anymore about 2012 from now on!

Still, interesting I suppose.

Well.. this 2012 wasn't referencing the so called 'Apocalypse' to come.. but simply the next upswing in solar activity. I believe it is just a coincidence.
 

lol

Mega Poster
If this thread was going to be a discussion about anything, I'd rather it was a discussion about solar activity and its effects on the planet than 2012 speculation...
 

Snoo

The Legend
lol said:
If this thread was going to be a discussion about anything, I'd rather it was a discussion about solar activity and its effects on the planet than 2012 speculation...

Taylor is young and naive.. remember.

Well.. throw out some discussion.. what do YOU think about it?
 

Pokemaniac

Mountain monkey
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
Let me see... wires become magnetic, short-circuits everywhere, transformators melt, that sort of stuff. Yawn.

Big cities go haywire. Smaller towns survive on wood heating, and traditional out-door cooking. Give the guys 72 hours, a lot of the main grid would be up and running. A week, and it would be back to normal in rural areas. Heck, I bet Denmark could fix most of the stuff in 48 hours, due to all the individual plants generating power, and the plenty-ish mechanics trained to fix them.

I bet this isn't as dangerous as it sounds like. We can survive without power for enough time to get it back.
 

Snoo

The Legend
If you think about it Poke.. we probably can't.

Think of the thousands.. millions of transformers which the more populated areas would lose. No way in hell do most of the places have replacements for all of those.

As they said.. it will be bad.. and will take TONS of time to replace.

Think about what our whole society is based around? Electricity. Without it.. we are thrown back 150 years in development.. which is 20 lightyears.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Cosmic weather will destroy earth.... bah, humbug :)

If you would have said, Geomagnetic Storms or Coronal Mass Ejections then I would have believed you, but there are always "cosmic weather", just like there is always weather down here.

These kind of storms have happened several times in the past years, one not that long ago, but earth weren't in the "line of fire" those times. It's not only the power grid that is in danger. All electronic devices can potentially fail, even if they are not connected to the grid.
But as Poke said, we up here in the north have a great tradition and are used to handle long power outages, etc.
 

Screaming Coasters

Strata Poster
Well if it happens, I hope I'm munching on a kebab at the time.
Hell, I want my 'last meal' to be epic, just like them old doods a few thousand years ago.
 

Snoo

The Legend
loefet said:
But as Poke said, we up here in the north have a great tradition and are used to handle long power outages, etc.

But.. you must remember.. not everyone lives 'up north.' And.. if something happens to the population centers of the world, you WILL be effected. That is fact my friend.
 

Aaron

Hyper Poster
Screaming Coasters said:
Well if it happens, I hope I'm munching on a kebab at the time.

HAHAHA.

I'm wondering if you actually mean what that could mean, and knowing you I wouldn't be suprised either! :p
 
Haha I like how people say it wouldn't be that much of an effect on humans if we lost our electricity. Members in this area of North America, recall the big black out in 2001, which actually was on my birthday? People went nuts, and that was like, a day.
 

Pokemaniac

Mountain monkey
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
LiveForTheLaunch said:
Haha I like how people say it wouldn't be that much of an effect on humans if we lost our electricity. Members in this area of North America, recall the big black out in 2001, which actually was on my birthday? People went nuts, and that was like, a day.

You know, "we" can be both inclusive and exclusive. :wink:

But I can see the practical obstacles here. Say that all electronic devices are wiped out. Within some thirty hours, cities will be in chaos. In the more rural areas, things are a little better. Very basic generators are put together, generating electricity for smaller areas, eventually small power plants are up and running, providing electricity for homemade lamps and other simple tools.

Military installations have to serve as temporary hospitals, as mountains and other bunkers provide cover for the EMP blast, and the guys use their own generators.

While the financial market freezes, fuel is restricted to food transport, fire trucks and ambulances. It's impossible to get to anywhere from anywhere without having to walk. Some people earn quite a bit of money by providing horse carriage transport from airports and such into cities, helping stranded passengers home/to a hotel.

I'm no magnetic field expert (loefet, help here) but if my logic doesn't fail me again, would not only one half of the world get damaged, the other facing away from the sun? Perhaps the northern areas would get quite a bit too, as the magnetic field guides particles to the poles, but wouldn't equator cities in the "night half" get shielded?

If so, recovery might take a couple of months. If not, a year or so. But we wouldn't be back to 1900, as some says. We have the knowledge to restore everything again.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
SnooSnoo said:
But.. you must remember.. not everyone lives 'up north.' And.. if something happens to the population centers of the world, you WILL be effected. That is fact my friend.
Sure I know that everyone will feel the effects from this kind of event, but I'm saying that we in this area are better equipped and also somewhat used to longer power outages, I mean how many people do you know that have a wood burning stove in their house, just in case of these events.

Pokemaniac said:
I'm no magnetic field expert (loefet, help here) but if my logic doesn't fail me again, would not only one half of the world get damaged, the other facing away from the sun? Perhaps the northern areas would get quite a bit too, as the magnetic field guides particles to the poles, but wouldn't equator cities in the "night half" get shielded?
You are partially correct here. But the outcome will be even less if a CME hits.
As you say the magnetic field lines in the "magnetosphere" will guide the plasma particles to the polar regions, especially to the "polar cusp's" (which are basically funnels that will lead the plasma down to ground, these are located on the day side). This will mean that when a CME hit's then the polar regions, especially on the day side, will be the areas that will be effected the most. The rest of the world would only get some minor disturbances and a kick ass light show during the Geomagnetic storm that will follow. The equatorial areas might not even get any direct effects by this.

So this isn't as big of a global crisis then what everyone believes, but sure, it will affect the global markets/economies.

magnetosphere.jpg

Overview of the Magnetosphere.
 
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