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Researchers identify largest ever solar storm in 14k-year-old tree rings

phys.org

81–90 of 163 posts

Re: Researchers identify largest ever solar storm in 14k-year-old tree rings

#81
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Abolish capitalism and greed. All attempts at that turned out worse through.

and replace with what?

The land of take what you want, with the naive hope that it magically turns into the land of do as you please.

Re: Researchers identify largest ever solar storm in 14k-year-old tree rings

#83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the UK, the National Grid Operator maintains "black start" plans[0] for rebooting the entire national electrical grid from a zero power situation, and they pay individual plants to conduct annual drills. However, for obvious reasons, these plans have never been tried in anything close to real-world conditions, and it's something of an open question whether it would work. [0] https://www.theblackoutreport.co.uk/202…

It's not just rebooting. There will be damage even in stored brand-new equipment

How it gets damaged? For comparison lightning is stronger than solar flares but only rarely damages stored unconnected equipment.

Re: Researchers identify largest ever solar storm in 14k-year-old tree rings

#84
post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

based on Larry Niven story Inconstant Moon which won the 1972 Hugo Award for best short story.

Oh. I'm adding it to my to-read queue then, and bumping Larry Niven up in the queue in general too. I've been meaning to read his works ever since I learned about Known Space / Star Trek connection.

I liked his stuff a lot, a soft spot especially for protector.

Re: Researchers identify largest ever solar storm in 14k-year-old tree rings

#85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I went to Europe years ago for work. And the adapter for my macbook work gave me wasn't grounded. Whenever I plugged my computer in I could feel a buzz when i touched the aluminum body. Others thought I was crazy. But it freaked me out and only charged when I wasn't touching it. You make me feel like I wasn't making it all up. haha!

Haha, no, you can find people complaining about that all over the web. It’s a very real effect.

Has anyone tried taping a conducting wire to the macbook case and running it to the closest ground connector?

Re: Researchers identify largest ever solar storm in 14k-year-old tree rings

#86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Haha, no, you can find people complaining about that all over the web. It’s a very real effect.

Has anyone tried taping a conducting wire to the macbook case and running it to the closest ground connector?

Might cause GFC protection to trip.

Re: Researchers identify largest ever solar storm in 14k-year-old tree rings

#87

We really need to start harden our grid and in all ways prepare for something like this. It will happen again and I suspect we will say: “no one could have predicted it” once it does.

This is being done across the US. For example:

https://www.wapa.gov/newsroom/NewsFeatures/2020/Pages/New-ca...

Re: Researchers identify largest ever solar storm in 14k-year-old tree rings

#89
post #82

What would be the impact of solar storm on nuclear power plants ? Would we have several Fukushimas ?

In theory, no. But in theory, we weren't supposed to have the first Fukushima to begin with. A bunch of things went precisely the wrong way.

That said, Fukushima ultimately wasn't bad, especially in terms of atmospheric releases / land contamination. It was scary, but nowhere near many of our worst "conventional" industrial disasters, let alone Chernobyl.

Re: Researchers identify largest ever solar storm in 14k-year-old tree rings

#90
post #2

>A similar solar storm today would be catastrophic for modern technological society—potentially wiping out telecommunications and satellite systems, causing massive electricity grid blackouts, and costing us billions of pounds. I wonder if any country has a disaster recovery plan for this kind on event.

The last time we had a significant solar storm was during the telegraph age, the Carrington Event of 1859: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrington_Event "telegraph systems all over Europe and North America failed, in some cases giving their operators electric shocks. Telegraph pylons threw sparks" No doubt this historical one is much more significant, but even another 1859 Carrington would be a huge disaster - the…

> "...in some cases giving their operators electric shocks. Telegraph pylons threw sparks"

The real life precursor of exploding starship screens/consoles

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