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[Itnetlolor]

Aw hell. Another End of Days thing? Just when I was (enjoying/hating) life again too.

[Darkmere]

Can confirm, majored in humanities and currently run a vast conspiracy so secret even I am unaware of it.

Wait a minute! How would you know that you run a vast conspiracy so secret that even you are unaware of it, if you just told us yourself!

Clearly the conspiracy is run by me, against me. That's how secret it is, I can't even let myself in on it.

[Karnewarrior]

If a CME does happen and knock out our electronics, can we trust the gubment to back up significant portions of the internet?

Presumably it'll mean a near total wipe of darkweb sites but is it really end of the wurld or is it just a oh shit nature be scary moment?

[wierd]

It would destroy the power transformers. Transformers are filled with a special chemical dialectric that is difficult to synthesize. The time it would take to replace all the needed transformers to restore power would be over 50 years.

You do the math.

[Bohandas]

It would destroy the power transformers. Transformers are filled with a special chemical dialectric that is difficult to synthesize. The time it would take to replace all the needed transformers to restore power would be over 50 years.

You do the math.

I think however that most power transformers are electromagnetically shielded (not with the possibility of an EMP in mind, mind you, but to keep in radiation and magnetic fields that the transformer may give off.

[Karnewarrior]

It would destroy the power transformers. Transformers are filled with a special chemical dialectric that is difficult to synthesize. The time it would take to replace all the needed transformers to restore power would be over 50 years.

You do the math.

I think however that most power transformers are electromagnetically shielded (not with the possibility of an EMP in mind, mind you, but to keep in radiation and magnetic fields that the transformer may give off.

wouldn't the issue then be a surge?

Either way it may make sense for some countries to stockpile this resource then. Immediately after the ejection the nation with electricity will be king, even if the country is full of north koreans, idiots, or french.

[Bohandas]

I already linked that on post number 3.

Another such event would throw our civilization into utter chaos.

BTW, do you know, Would something like that affect the day side and night side approximately equally (and/or last long enough to hit both)? If not it wouldn't mean the end of civilization, it would just knock out either the United States, the European Union, Russia, or China as a major power and leave at least one of the others (probably two, possibly all three) largely unharmed

It would destroy the power transformers. Transformers are filled with a special chemical dialectric that is difficult to synthesize. The time it would take to replace all the needed transformers to restore power would be over 50 years.

You do the math.

I think however that most power transformers are electromagnetically shielded (not with the possibility of an EMP in mind, mind you, but to keep in radiation and magnetic fields that the transformer may give off.

wouldn't the issue then be a surge?

Either way it may make sense for some countries to stockpile this resource then. Immediately after the ejection the nation with electricity will be king, even if the country is full of north koreans, idiots, or french

Those first two are redundant. If you're not stupid naturally the North Korean education system will make you stupid.

EDIT:
Also, I don't think a country counts as having electricity if only one person there has it.

[Arcvasti]

Looking at some stuff on the 2012 solar storm, which was easily vigorous enough to cripple civilization[It missed by a hairs breadth, luckily], we can predict these things, sort of. At least well enough to get SOME advance warning. No idea if the government/corporations could even do anything useful with a week of advance warning, but this isn't something that they haven't thought of at all or anything like that.

[Morrigi]

Huh, the only conspiracy theory regarding September I've been hearing is that the economy is going to crash again because of some biblical something-or-other.

[wierd]

The geomagnetic storm would happen globally. The magnetic field funnels the particles in at the poles, hitting both hemispheres simultaneously-- This means that the electromagnetic flux exerted from the ionosphere being excited would be global, with epicenters at the polar regions. Not the day side.

Also, the shielding is not what is the issue. The issue is that the transformers are connected to miles and miles and miles of conductor, which will resonate with the EM flux of the ionosphere during the event-- EG, many millions of volts of electrical potential oscillating at a low frequency outside the normal operating band of the transformer.  This will damage/destroy the transformer.

Transformers locked in storage may be OK, but ones in active service will be connected to the power grid, which is what causes the above problem.  There are not enough transformers stockpiled to replace all of them in an expedient manner. This means that the "aftermath" of such a calamity will have certain areas getting power, and others not, and subsequent riots, looting, and pilfering of functional transformers, resulting in inefficient and unpredictable power grid behavior in the years afterwards, and the logistical difficulties of manufacturing additional replacement units while this is all going on.  At CURRENT levels of manufacture, it would take about 50 years to manufacture (I think that's right...) enough to rebuild the US's power grid. (let alone the world's!) A LOT CAN HAPPEN IN 50 years.

During that time, you would have many billions of people that were previously sustained by the abundance of electrical energy now suddenly thrust into a pre-electrical revolution setting. In the first year after the event, the lack of air conditioning alone would kill untold numbers. The lack of refrigeration would result in absurd numbers of people dieing of starvation, and the radical decline in hospital quality that lack of electrical power would induce would also come to bear.

This isn't something to joke about.

[Bohandas]

Can confirm, majored in humanities and currently run a vast conspiracy so secret even I am unaware of it.

Wait a minute! How would you know that you run a vast conspiracy so secret that even you are unaware of it, if you just told us yourself!

Clearly the conspiracy is run by me, against me. That's how secret it is, I can't even let myself in on it.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Wasn't that how the original version of The Prisoner ended?

[Bohandas]

It would destroy the power transformers. Transformers are filled with a special chemical dialectric that is difficult to synthesize. The time it would take to replace all the needed transformers to restore power would be over 50 years.

You do the math.

Wait, I just realized something. Is this chemical something that would be destroyed by the surge? If not couldn't they just salvage it from the destroyed transformers? It's existence isn't even something that's common knowledge, so even if looters opened up the transformer it probably wpuldn't be touched.

[wierd]

Yes. it gets damaged by electrical breakdown.

Opening the transformer will introduce atmospheric water vapor. This will degrade the dielectric fluid considerably.

Manufacture of modern power transformers, (the kind needed for main power transmission lines) is very costly, because the transformers have to operate reliably under very heavy electrical stresses. (High power bulk transfer lines power whole cities. Hundreds of megawatts.)

The issue is that in addition to their normal operating power saturation, they will have additional power added that is not in correct phase for their coil windings, creating issues inside the transformer body. These issues include things like internal corona formation, internal arcing, increased thermal stress, and the like.  Those kinds of things denaturate/break down the liquid dialectric, and eventually damage the coil windings/make the transformer explode.

Here's a "How does that work?" article on power transformers.
http://energyquest.ca.gov/how_it_works/transformer.html

On the nitty gritty side of things, the number of coil windings on either side of the transformer is tied to the voltages desired on both sides, and the phase of the oscillation of the current. It is this last part that is of particular distress in the issue of another "1859 CME".  Note from the linked article that one of the leads on the low voltage side is the ground. When the CME hits, the ground plane is going to become saturated. Additionally, the voltage on the high voltage side is going to stop being in the Kvolt range, and enter into the hundreds of Mvolt range. Basically, more power than the transformer is designed to be able to handle will be getting pushed through it, at frequencies it is not designed to handle.  Bad juju for the transformer. It will pop like a firecracker.

Basically, something like this will happen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HICmYZY3prE

Except to every high voltage transformer on the grid.

[Graknorke]

So what does this fluid in transformers actually do? Because I know that smaller ones at least can work perfectly fine with just an iron core and the coils.

[wierd]

It works as a combination of insulator and thermal cooling fluid.

It prevents corona discharges inside the transformer, and helps eliminate heat from electrical self-heating.

More video of exploding transformers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTPhEKXZClU

When they go, THEY GO.