The Solar Flare and the times that follow.

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GCG
I was watching a programme on Discovery Science that detailed how a massive solar flare of epic emanates from our sun every 100/150 years.

It analyzed how a forthcoming solar flare could wipe out telecommunications around the globe and send our earth's electromagnetism in tilt. Sattelites would fry and so would phones, pagers (if any?) wireless connections and the internets.

Which begs the question. Will other stiff such as fridges, TVs, DVD players etc be affected?

Now this brings me onto part II.

In Chuck Palahniuk's fight club, there are many referances to the people being enslaved into this modern world of comfort. Where we are brought up thinking that surrounding ourself with lots of stuff will make us happy, but it turns out that the things we own end up owning us.

We feel the urge to buy stuff that we dont really need. Even I am taking a look around me and I am seeing stuff I hardly use.

Then we have the people who live beyond their standards. Those that need to loan and borrow money to be 'happy'. To 'look good'. The amounts on the world's credit cards must be gargantuan. Stuff on credit all worthy of adding another crippled character to South Park. We had Jimmy, then Timmy and now Economy.

Without forcing this perspective on anyone, would it be possible that this Solar flare wipe out ALL technology, and as Tyler put's it, 'erasing all the debt, bringing us all back down to zero' ?

What life would ensue?

dadudemon
I thought we already had a great solar flare (one of the epic ones) back in the early 2000s or late 90s?

And it DID affect satellites, energy, and cells (the cells for cellular networks: not cell phones.)

GCG
I'm not refering to those babies but to a massive one that could wipe out TV's, internet and the mostly reliebale power grids. No power for days, weeks, months or maybe years.

dadudemon
Originally posted by GCG
I'm not refering to those babies but to a massive one that could wipe out TV's, internet and the mostly reliebale power grids. No power for days, weeks, months or maybe years.

Yeah: me too. I'm referring to a great solar flare. I thought we already had one of the sesquicentennial flares.

skekUng
I don't recall losing power for years.

Deja~vu
I believe everything would be chaotic. People will start stealing and looting, others will run away to somewhere, what they feel is a safe place. If nothing is working, then there will be riots in the streets. Good human nature. lol

RE: Blaxican
Probably nothing will happen. People will initially be weirded out, news "experts" will discuss the event for a couple years over whatever form of long range communication we still have, and then we'll go about our lives.

inimalist
Originally posted by GCG
I'm not refering to those babies but to a massive one that could wipe out TV's, internet and the mostly reliebale power grids. No power for days, weeks, months or maybe years.

the blackout that occured on the East coast of the US and in Canada a couple of summers ago was very sensible...

Power was only out for just under a day, but still, people didn't take to rioting

Mindship
With that big a flare, we'll begin to mutate.
Superpowers for all, except those making over $250,000/yr.

Deja~vu
laughing out loud

Robtard
The Trigger Effect (1996) deals with power and communications going down for a couple of days and the chaos that ensues.

Not a great film.

inimalist
if the cycle is 100/150 years, we should have a general idea about what might happen. widespread use of telegraphs existed in the 1830s, and afaik, nobody since then has noticed all our electricity just fail.

Quiero Mota
Originally posted by Robtard
The Trigger Effect (1996) deals with power and communications going down for a couple of days and the chaos that ensues.

Not a great film.

Yeah, sounds like a corny B horror flick. The kind that Syfy would play on a Sunday morning.

Robtard
Originally posted by Quiero Mota
Yeah, sounds like a corny B horror flick. The kind that Syfy would play on a Sunday morning.

Not B or horror, just not a great film.

It's definitely higher quality than Super Solar Storm or Mega Shark Vs Giant Octopus.

jaden101
Originally posted by Robtard
The Trigger Effect (1996) deals with power and communications going down for a couple of days and the chaos that ensues.

Not a great film.

Want a classic film about the sun going **** up that isn't "Sunshine"

The Quiet Earth....quality movie.

Robtard
Originally posted by jaden101
Want a classic film about the sun going **** up that isn't "Sunshine"

The Quiet Earth....quality movie.

I have a book titled something like '101 Sci Fi Movies to See Before You Die'; that one is in there; it piqued my interest.

I also did enjoy Sunshine.

dadudemon
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2008/06may_carringtonflare/






There's also this problem of the flare having to be "directed" at Earth. Earth is a spec compared the sun. It would take well over 1,000,000 earths to equal the mass of the sun. The sun is massive (and large). It's possible that we have missed a super solar flare since 1859 (as in, one occurred, but we failed to observe it), but it's also possible that none actually occurred (I think that this option is more likely than the former). On top of this, super solar flares the size of the one that occurred in 1859 are also not common. In other words, it is very likely we could miss most of the next super flare.

Could it happen? Yup. They predict the damage to be between $30-$70 billion and, currently, our only recourse is back up satellites ready to replace the damaged ones. Power should be out for quite a few people from anywhere from just a few seconds to a couple of days.


Originally posted by skekUng
I don't recall losing power for years.

I don't recall losing power "for years" being a symptom of a super solar flare.


In fact, it would be impossible short of a flare continually erupting for years from an area on the sun that strangely leads* the Earth's orbit around the sun just perfectly to continually bombard the earth with a solar storm.

*Similar to how a gunner has to lead shots for a distant target while both are in motion.

Robtard
Everyone knows that if there's a super-solar-flare it will be directed at Earth. The Sun's a prick like that.

inimalist
Originally posted by dadudemon
In fact, it would be impossible short of a flare continually erupting for years from an area on the sun that strangely leads* the Earth's orbit around the sun just perfectly to continually bombard the earth with a solar storm.

*Similar to how a gunner has to lead shots for a distant target while both are in motion.

so, it isn't actually doing physical harm to electronic equipment or communications infrastructure, just causing them to be non-functional during their exposure to the flare?

like, its not that it is rendering a telephone wire innert and unable to send a signal, but that it is disrupting any signals caught in the flares EM?

dadudemon
Originally posted by inimalist
so, it isn't actually doing physical harm to electronic equipment or communications infrastructure, just causing them to be non-functional during their exposure to the flare?

like, its not that it is rendering a telephone wire innert and unable to send a signal, but that it is disrupting any signals caught in the flares EM?

Yes AND it's destroying electronic equipment. Transformers will blow (keep your movie jokes to yourselves...Bay haters) due to too much energy passing through...but that won't be everything.



We will see things ranging from the Quebec incident to static in cell phone calls. The difference is it will be on a much more massive scale and many of our satellites would be damaged and need to be replaced.


I think the problem is: some people think that the Van Allen Belt is completely wiped out and it takes years to "repair." Not true. Guess where those energetic particles come from? That's right: solar wind. The nature of the "wind" would also be the repair of the radiation belts. The earth's magnetism just simply wouldn't cease to exist because that's caused by rotations in the core. Take that, "Knowing" movie believers.


In fact, there are people and proposals out there to get RID of some of the energy in the radiation belts. Odd, isn't it?

jinXed by JaNx
Originally posted by GCG


Without forcing this perspective on anyone, would it be possible that this Solar flare wipe out ALL technology, and as Tyler put's it, 'erasing all the debt, bringing us all back down to zero' ?

What life would ensue?


I think a worldwide shutdown would certainly bring chaos but after a few years we would be right back to where we are now. Im sure there would be a lot of collateral damage but as martial law would be initiated, presumably, in every country it would just be a matter of time until we repair the problem. Peoples morals and values would change but as soon as the light switch is turned back on and the neon advertisement signs are seen, we will all go back to standing in line for another iphone.

Symmetric Chaos
Originally posted by GCG
Without forcing this perspective on anyone, would it be possible that this Solar flare wipe out ALL technology, and as Tyler put's it, 'erasing all the debt, bringing us all back down to zero' ?

All technology? Not unless it physically destroyed the planet. We'd still have sticks and stuff no matter what.

Originally posted by GCG
What life would ensue?

A life where you have to regularly watch children die of horrible illnesses that we were once able to treat. A life where you try to forget that whole cities full of people died. A life where the idea of travel becomes anathema to your existence. A life where populations are insular and the exchange of art, knowledge, and understanding is rare because you'll never truly meet stranger. A life where the poor and the weak can never stand up for themselves without the aid of the rich and the strong.

But yeah, no credit cards. Awesome.

Ushgarak
You know, much as that 1859 flare was a big deal, I've never been able to find the primary source material relating to the effect on telegraphy- and one problem here is that the telegraphy network at that point in time was very small. I don't think it was embedded enough to make a claim for this having had a worldwide effect; fifty years later, then maybe.

The fact is, we don't know much- very little about regularity or what effect it would really have on the world. Obviously there are sensible precautions to be taken but it's very easy to be alarmist.

ADarksideJedi
I very much doubt that it is going to happen.

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