EDC compass

[Mortblanc]

If the emp source were a thermonuclear device and you were under ground zero you would have few continued worries.

Back in the olden days, when "prepping" was newly born, EMP held a different worry for the individual. We had no miniaturized electronic devices, no PC on the desk, no laptop in the briefcase, no smart phone in the pocket. Nor did we have electronics in our vehicles.

EMP was directly of interest to us as an electromagnetic spectrum product with more effect radius than the radiation of the blast. One could be safe from the alpha, beta and gamma rays and the EMP would still make it far past the radiation zone and damage equipment, not through surge melting circuits, but due to sudden magnetization shifts rendering batteries and magnets nonfunctional and the change in magnetization of small parts.

The worry about EMP back in the 1960s and 1970s was the effect it had on batteries, magnets in alternators, and small mechanical gear like chronometers and watches.

EMP being the rapid reversal and alternation of electrical currents at the nanosecond level, an affect on any small moving instrument would be noticeable. Many small parts would be magnetized and others would reverse polarity.

Back in those days there were no digital watches, and may people could not wear a wrist watch due to the electrical fields inside their bodies. Just the small imperceptible magnetic fields generated by the functioning of the nervous system would impart a magnetic field that would slow and eventually stop a wind up wrist watch within a few hours. Imagine what an emp blast shifting polarity every nanosecond would have done?

We were not so much concerned with a "surge" that would mess up our electronics. That did not occur until miniature electronics became a part of everyday life.

I am not a big proponent of the ability of man made emp to stop the world, but close to the blast area, and outside the thermo/radiation zone, there would be a dramatic effect on lots of things people have not even considered, and less than we expected on many others.

And yes, even today I do keep a wind up pocket watch and a couple of wind up wrist watches available in the little metal jewelry box for special occasions.