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[wierd]

reality check there:

SUN > Earth

Much much > earth.

[Frumple]

What if we... nuke the sun???

Then, it'll be in tiny pieces, so it won't be as bright, and because of stellar mechanics, We'd have daytime all the time, so we can farm more food!this was the "im joking" font, right?

Well, the reason why we wouldn't do that is if because if someone tried, I would personally hunt them down and kill them and their offspring unto the tenth generation. That's the sarcasm font, yes. Thank you. I abstained from it because if someone actually set out to make the world permanent day, I would in absolute seriousness be depopulating countries to stop it :V

[i2amroy]

Small transformer, yes.  Not the big trunk line ones though.  Mineral oil simply isnt up to that challenge.

Point, which is why many modern GSU transformers at the plants use Mineral oil inundated pressboard, which is basically made by taking unbleached kraft paper pulp and poly(4-methylpentene-1) (which is another fairly common material, we use it in pretty much all of our microwaves safe plastic dishes, and at least some is used in the vast majority of electronics, even things as simple as LED's), grinding them up and laminating them together with the oils. Note: I'm literally taking all this data off of producer pdf's such as this.

Yes, there are more and more of those large transformers today that are using metamaterials and whatnot for their designs. But often this isn't because they can't use the simpler oil-based designs (or oil-pressboard designs), but rather because the fancier materials are safer and allow for more efficient designs.

As for the Quebec blackout, I'd like to note that the breakers did what they were supposed to do, and while a blackout happened, very little real damage was caused (which is why it only lasted 9 hours), and we've spent the time since then upgrading safeguards and learning more about how to manage power in such an event, albeit slowly. Yes, should a big storm like the Carrington-level one hit us we would be talking trillions of dollars being lost, and possibly some places being without power for months or even a few years as we repair the grid (it would be a piecewise repair on a scale that large, of course). But the longer end of that estimate rests firmly at "a few years", not "a few decades" (though most of the data I'm looking at is for the US, so other countries might suffer for longer or shorter periods depending on their own personal factors, obviously).

[LordBucket]

The easiest way to do it is, in fact, a tinfoil hat

You might also want to ground it. If not, it might tend to act as an antenna channeling through your body, which would be the opposite of what you're probably intending.

Otherwise, I bet steel shipping containers make great faraday cages.

[Loud Whispers]

Nah nah see, the tinfoil hats are for other people; if they conduct the bad joo joos away from you, it's like running through a thunderstorm where everyone else around you's holding lightning conductors

[wierd]

Tinfoil hats might work in those european countries, but not here in the US!


A fine examination by some enterprising MIT students determined that the frequencies reserved for use by the US government are actually AMPLIFIED inside a tinfoil helmet.

(Now you know why the tinfoil wearing ones are so battshit!)

[Mr. Strange]

Otherwise, I bet steel shipping containers make great faraday cages.

Now I can't get the idea of using shipping containers as emp-shielded modules to build underground bunker out of my head. Just dig up a trench and put some proper support under it and cover with dirt/concrete, though it probably needs something between metal and covering material, maybe wooden frame coverd with waterproof sheets or something...

[wierd]

Better hope the soil is good and moist so that there is good positive ground. Otherwise, you just build a resonant chamber that way.

[Mr. Strange]

Those metal bars used to reinforced concrete probably won't help any even if they extend far to the soil on the sides and bellow, do they? Even with conductive wire wrapped around them... Or would it just make it worse by collecting the waves from larger area?
_{It would have been too easy anyway...}

[Bohandas]

Now, my original query was in the context of completely enclosing something, not just covering it on the top. Does anyone have data relevant to this re. tinfoil and/or metal shipping crates

[wierd]

Faraday cage VS solid metal enclosure--

See, the big thing here is that a solid metal enclosure can act as a resonant cavity, where a cage simply attenuates the signals.  The question of if any given solid metal box will function as a resonant cavity depends on the frequencies being investigated, and the physical shape/size of the box.  If any of the box's dimensions on a side are a perfect multiple of either full wave, half wave, or quarter wave of the frequency being investigated, then the box will have a resonant mode for that radio frequency, and can operate as a resonant cavity.

Faraday cages have holes in the box, which prevent such resonance through internal wave scattering. (It produces interference patterns on basically all frequencies, when constructed right).

At least, that's how I understood it.  Waveguide design is kind of a niche thing.

[RedKing]

That's why I'm encasing myself in wood and brick. In fact, I spend most, if not all, of my day in a wood and brick enclosure.