How strong will power grids be affected? (Score: 1) by tanuki64@pipedot.org on 2014-10-22 15:56 (#2TK4) A weakening magnetic field could interrupt power grids and radio communication,This does not sound good. I saw once a documentation what might happen when a huge EMP destroys the infrastructure of the modern western world. In the documentation one possible source of such an EMP was an extra-terrestrial gamma-ray burst. So compared to such an event, how does the effects measure to the weakening magnetic field? Might be that such a polarity change never before caused a serious catastrophe. Before the mid-20th century it most likely would not have been much of a problem either. However, the predicted gamma-ray burst EMP scenarios for today's tech/power dependencies came quite close to an extinction level event for humans. Re: How strong will power grids be affected? (Score: 1) by billshooterofbul@pipedot.org on 2014-10-22 16:39 (#2TK6) Probably not extinction, but It wouldn't be good. If a good chunk of our modern electrical grid/ telecom infrastructure was destroyed some deaths would occur. Its really tough to predict how many. The increase in radiation would also likely spike cancer rates, leading to more deaths. But probably not mass die offs of the human race.
Re: How strong will power grids be affected? (Score: 1) by billshooterofbul@pipedot.org on 2014-10-22 16:39 (#2TK6) Probably not extinction, but It wouldn't be good. If a good chunk of our modern electrical grid/ telecom infrastructure was destroyed some deaths would occur. Its really tough to predict how many. The increase in radiation would also likely spike cancer rates, leading to more deaths. But probably not mass die offs of the human race.