Author: Ernest Mueller (---.rr.com)
Date: 02-29-2004 00:19
Some of the discussion here about EMP weapons in space seems to be assuming that such weapons would work... But here on Earth, an EMP is generated by the gamma rays ionizing air molecules - in a vacuum, you wouldn't have any ionization and thus no EMP. It's really just like an electrical version of the typical "shock wave" from an explosion, which also does not exist in space as there's (usually) little to no material to transmit the wave.
I had been working on a science fiction scenario where someone EMPed a moon base, but after some research I determined that was problematic for this reason.
This is a reason that "explosion" generating weapons (nuke or not) possibly wouldn't be the best thing for spaceship combat... You'd pretty much have to hit the other ship dead on, and if you're hitting them dead on you can probably take them out of commission without needing a nuke. And with the relative fragility of known materials, a bunch of 30mm holes would render a spaceship pretty much of limited use...
Ernest
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