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The Carrington Event of 1859 disrupted telegraph lines

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Re: The Carrington Event of 1859 disrupted telegraph lines

#51

Post by TechBro8615 »

Aerbil313 wrote: post #37
Cthulhu_ wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> a new dark age is far from impossible. Nah, it's just transformers and the power grid, that can be fixed pretty quickly - see the response after natural disasters, Ukraine's power grid being directly attacked, etc. The only limiting factor would be the availability of spare parts and personnel.

A global disaster is very different from a local one. I suggest you review your faith in The Almighty We. Civilization has never been more fragile in history than it is now.

Would it be global or would it only be the side of the Earth that was facing the Sun at the time of impact?

Re: The Carrington Event of 1859 disrupted telegraph lines

#52

Post by djmips »

xvilka wrote: post #12

It's possible to build shielded (up to a certain point of course) electronics and power grids, it's just a lot of work and money. Ideally, all new devices, grid lines, transformers should be made with at least some level of protection from those events. In a few decades world will not be a sitting duck anymore if follow this strategy.

I have a surge suppresor in the 15 year old power bar that feeds my computer so I'm set.

Re: The Carrington Event of 1859 disrupted telegraph lines

#53

Post by falconinthesun »

Aerbil313 wrote: post #37
Cthulhu_ wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> a new dark age is far from impossible. Nah, it's just transformers and the power grid, that can be fixed pretty quickly - see the response after natural disasters, Ukraine's power grid being directly attacked, etc. The only limiting factor would be the availability of spare parts and personnel.

A global disaster is very different from a local one. I suggest you review your faith in The Almighty We. Civilization has never been more fragile in history than it is now.

But there's nothing in the article to suggest that these events actually affected the entire world. Most of the analysis seems to have been carried out in the northern hemisphere. If one of these events happened, perhaps it'd affect only one hemisphere or we'd have portions of the world unaffected or partially unaffected and able to provide assistance.

Re: The Carrington Event of 1859 disrupted telegraph lines

#54

Post by verve_rat »

lxgr wrote: post #46
AtlasBarfed wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sooo.... widespread rooftop solar would probably help the resilience of at least domestic power?

Can common rooftop solar setups actually deliver power locally with the grid being down? I would imagine them taking at least frequency synchronization from the grid, and probably also not faring too well without the grid to compensate for variable output when a cloud passes over them etc.

Batteries and inverters would be common in most installations, surly?

Re: The Carrington Event of 1859 disrupted telegraph lines

#55

Post by Turskarama »

falconinthesun wrote: post #53
Aerbil313 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A global disaster is very different from a local one. I suggest you review your faith in The Almighty We. Civilization has never been more fragile in history than it is now.

But there's nothing in the article to suggest that these events actually affected the entire world. Most of the analysis seems to have been carried out in the northern hemisphere. If one of these events happened, perhaps it'd affect only one hemisphere or we'd have portions of the world unaffected or partially unaffected and able to provide assistance.

Half the world is still very different to one country.

In fact, if the "once country" was _China_ (or Taiwan) it could be a civilisation ending event. We've built a house of cards, and while it does have some redundancy it's not all that resilient.

Keep in mind the modern world as it is now hasn't even existed 50 years, it has never really been tested with a truly international disaster.

Re: The Carrington Event of 1859 disrupted telegraph lines

#56

Post by Turskarama »

TechBro8615 wrote: post #51
Aerbil313 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A global disaster is very different from a local one. I suggest you review your faith in The Almighty We. Civilization has never been more fragile in history than it is now.

Would it be global or would it only be the side of the Earth that was facing the Sun at the time of impact?

It hardly matters. Pick a hemisphere, you will probably hit 2 of China, the US, and Europe. No matter what a large chunk of the worlds manufacturing is going down.

Re: The Carrington Event of 1859 disrupted telegraph lines

#57

Post by dash2 »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #27
Turskarama wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The big risk is a bunch of transformers blow up, essentially taking the grid down. Since we would have to bootstrap the grid again without the advantage of the grid... this would likely set civilization back pretty far, a new dark age is far from impossible.

> a new dark age is far from impossible. Nah, it's just transformers and the power grid, that can be fixed pretty quickly - see the response after natural disasters, Ukraine's power grid being directly attacked, etc. The only limiting factor would be the availability of spare parts and personnel.

Japan after WWII recovered pretty fast even though the entire world had been set back a lot. Human knowledge is the key resource and electrical surges don't wipe that.

Re: The Carrington Event of 1859 disrupted telegraph lines

#58

Post by bee_rider »

lxgr wrote: post #46
AtlasBarfed wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sooo.... widespread rooftop solar would probably help the resilience of at least domestic power?

Can common rooftop solar setups actually deliver power locally with the grid being down? I would imagine them taking at least frequency synchronization from the grid, and probably also not faring too well without the grid to compensate for variable output when a cloud passes over them etc.

Typically solar will not feed back into the grid if it is down, to avoid energizing the lines and zapping repair crews. This is an intentional design, I’m sure anywhere with engineers or hackers could work around it.

You probably want a battery, though.

Re: The Carrington Event of 1859 disrupted telegraph lines

#59

Post by Turskarama »

AtlasBarfed wrote: post #41
Turskarama wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The big risk is a bunch of transformers blow up, essentially taking the grid down. Since we would have to bootstrap the grid again without the advantage of the grid... this would likely set civilization back pretty far, a new dark age is far from impossible.

Sooo.... widespread rooftop solar would probably help the resilience of at least domestic power?

They would, at best, be used to power small local induction forges and if you're lucky, refrigerators. There's no way you could use them to restart the grid.

Re: The Carrington Event of 1859 disrupted telegraph lines

#60

Post by Aardwolf »

Turskarama wrote: post #13
dskrepps wrote: post #9

I've wondered for a while. Lots of people seem to think a Carrington Event will simply fry all small electronics and make everything stop working, but from my understanding all it'll actually do is cause power surges in long transmission lines and disrupt wireless signals. Apparently telegraph lines sparked and shocked people. So what effect will that actually have now? Will a massive power surge go through my house…

The big risk is a bunch of transformers blow up, essentially taking the grid down. Since we would have to bootstrap the grid again without the advantage of the grid... this would likely set civilization back pretty far, a new dark age is far from impossible.

> Since we would have to bootstrap the grid again without the advantage of the grid

That sounds exactly like what happens in the game Satisfactory when your nuclear power plant got clogged and you only find out when it's too late!

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