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Using EMP To Punch Holes In Steel

Posted by timothy on from the you'll-need-some-big-batteries dept.

angrytuna writes "The Economist is running a story about a group of researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Machine Tools and Forming Technology in Chemnitz, Germany, who've found a way to use an EMP device to shape and punch holes through steel. The process enjoys advantages over both lasers, which take more time to bore the hole (0.2 vs. 1.4 seconds), and by metal presses, which can leave burrs that must be removed by hand."

3 of 165 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Weapon? by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I suspect that occupational hazard specialists wouldn't recommend kissing one; but the ability of a strong magnetic pulse to deform a material depends on that material being conductive enough to have an induced current and a (temporary) magnetic field of its own. Metals qualify, humans are pretty iffy.

    Humans, being gooey sacks of largely salt-water, are slightly conductive and they do do some electrical signalling internally; so a very strong magnetic field could well have an effect(TMS exploits this fact to noninvasively alter the function of brain tissue). A very strong magnetic pulse to the brain could have odd effects, a very strong pulse to the heart might be an issue, and a really strong pulse just about anywhere might be enough to cause electrical flailing or burns.

    That said, though, the weapon potential would be absurdly poor. Magnetic field strength falls off quite quickly with distance, so you would need some truly heroic equipment to have any effect on somebody more than a few centimetres away. You'd be much better off simply discharging the capacitor bank through the victim rather than the coil. Or just hitting them with a wrench.

    All the alternatives to good old-fashioned chemical propellants and sharp objects face serious challenges on the road to practicality; but strong magnetic fields aren't even in the same league.

  2. Re:What if EMP leaks out of the factory? by bmo · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Contrary to the thoughts of George Lucas, no sound in space is much more dramatic.

    Stanley Kubrick understood this with 2001.

    --
    BMO

  3. Re:What if EMP leaks out of the factory? by interkin3tic · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Contrary to the thoughts of Stanley Kubrick, no plot in space is much more boring.

    George Lucas understood this in the 70's but then forgot it in the 90's.