P
pervect
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"Peter D. Tillman" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Hmm -- I wonder if a strong-enough EMP pulse would stop a person's
> heart? Or, more likely, induce terminal fibrillation.
>
> A new weapon for sfnal assassins?
>
> Cheers -- Pete Tillman
I think you'll have extreme difficulty getting any currents to pass through
the heart with an EMP pulse.
The problem is that a short pulse like an EMP pulse has mostly high
frequency components. The skin effect (a property of conductors in general,
not specifically human skin) keeps the high frequencies from penetrating
very far into the body.
The relative safety of high frequency current isn't just theory - Tesla, for
instance, used to put on demonstrations with his tesla coil, drawing huge
sparks from his body.
The biggest danger with high frequency (RF or above) electricity is the
possibilty of painful burns.
AFAIK, other than nuclear bombs (which are very wide area devices) the EMP
devices that exist are basically pulsed microwave beams, which opearate by
burning out the generator.
There is some possibility for pain and perhaps even damage from intense
enough microwave sources. But I would not expect that you could get enough
penetration to affect the heart.
For an interesting if somewhat bizarre example, the military has been
investigating a microwave beam which causes painful burning sensations
(allegedly without actual damage) for crowd control, see for instance
http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/science/03/02/new.weapon.02/
news:[email protected]...
> Hmm -- I wonder if a strong-enough EMP pulse would stop a person's
> heart? Or, more likely, induce terminal fibrillation.
>
> A new weapon for sfnal assassins?
>
> Cheers -- Pete Tillman
I think you'll have extreme difficulty getting any currents to pass through
the heart with an EMP pulse.
The problem is that a short pulse like an EMP pulse has mostly high
frequency components. The skin effect (a property of conductors in general,
not specifically human skin) keeps the high frequencies from penetrating
very far into the body.
The relative safety of high frequency current isn't just theory - Tesla, for
instance, used to put on demonstrations with his tesla coil, drawing huge
sparks from his body.
The biggest danger with high frequency (RF or above) electricity is the
possibilty of painful burns.
AFAIK, other than nuclear bombs (which are very wide area devices) the EMP
devices that exist are basically pulsed microwave beams, which opearate by
burning out the generator.
There is some possibility for pain and perhaps even damage from intense
enough microwave sources. But I would not expect that you could get enough
penetration to affect the heart.
For an interesting if somewhat bizarre example, the military has been
investigating a microwave beam which causes painful burning sensations
(allegedly without actual damage) for crowd control, see for instance
http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/science/03/02/new.weapon.02/