solar storm protection

[yawnmoth]

I was reading about the Solar storm of 1859 on wikipedia.org and about
how really massive solar storms can fry electronics and... I'm
curious... what could one do to protect against a hard drive against
this? As I understand it, placing an object in a faraday cage should
provide sufficient protection, however, not all farady cages are
equal.

A microwave is a faraday cage but it only protects against wavelengths
that are longer than than the mesh. An antistatic bag is supposed to
be a faraday cage but since they're often transparent I don't imagine
it'd protect against anything with a shorter frequency than visible
light (eg. gamma rays or whatever). Lead bricks are often placed
around radiation sources to block the radiation they emit... are
these actually faraday cages, as well?

Also, what frequencies are actually dangerous to electronics? I
imagine it's the higher frequencies - I imagine hard drives are
already exposed to the lower frequencies fairly frequently.

 

[Arno]

I was reading about the Solar storm of 1859 on wikipedia.org and about
how really massive solar storms can fry electronics and... I'm
curious... what could one do to protect against a hard drive against
this?

No need.

As I understand it, placing an object in a faraday cage should
provide sufficient protection, however, not all farady cages are
equal.

All faraday cages _are_ equal for most practical purposes.
Unless you make the conductor thin enough that it has a very,
very high resistance.

A microwave is a faraday cage but it only protects against wavelengths
that are longer than than the mesh.

A microwave is a form of elecromagnetical radiation. Or are
you referring to a microwave oven? Also, a faraday cage
does not protect against electromagnetical radiation, but against
an electric field. Sunstorms are charged particles and when they
hit something, they charge it, thus creating an electric field.

An antistatic bag is supposed to
be a faraday cage but since they're often transparent I don't imagine
it'd protect against anything with a shorter frequency than visible
light (eg. gamma rays or whatever).

You are confusing elecrtomagnetic radiation and electrical fields.
ESD bags have zero protection against electromagnetical radiation.
They do protect against electrostatic damage, i.e. very high voltage
electrical fields.

Lead bricks are often placed
around radiation sources to block the radiation they emit... are
these actually faraday cages, as well?

Yes, but that is pure coincidence. Lead is used to block
gamma rays, an extremely high-freqency electromagnetic
radiation (high enough it cannot be generated by electronics)
and beta radiation, which is protons.

Also, what frequencies are actually dangerous to electronics?

As a static electrical field does not have a frequency, the
question is meaningless. You need to ask after voltages.

Typical digital electronics can withstand something like
500-1000V electrostatic discharge. Drivers may be able to
withstand up to 50'000V.

I imagine it's the higher frequencies - I imagine hard drives are
already exposed to the lower frequencies fairly frequently.

See above.

I recomend you read up on what solar storms are actually.
And what different forms of radiation is there. You are
mixing them up indiscriminately, which prevents you from
understanding what is going on.

Incidentially, solar storms are not radiation at all or
not realy. They are charged particles and they require
significantly longer than light to reach earth. Somethoing
like 6-8 hours, if I remember correctly, while light takes
afew minutes. That is the reasoen that there is the occasional
early warning of a solar storm.

Now, solar storms do interact with the magnetif field of earth
and that does create electromagnetic waves, which in turn
can disrupt communicatuions electronics, as they are connected
to antenae or long cables that act like antenae. Usually, no
damage is done. As a HDD has no antenna or other long cable
attached to it, it is not at risk at all.

Incidentially, a faraday cage does protect against a solar
storm, but not at all against the electromagnetic radiation
created in the magnetosphere of earth. For that you need
electro-magnetic shielding, which needs thick metal
(effectiveness dependent on metal type thickness and
frequency), but only needs to be between radiation
source and equipment to protect, while a faraday cage
needs to go all around in 3 dimensions.

Arno

 

[Justin Goldberg]

I was reading about the Solar storm of 1859 on wikipedia.org and about
how really massive solar storms can fry electronics and...

herf guns can do this.