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> Carrington storm of 1859 Isn't this storm supposed to have set telegraph wires on fire? Why would the magnetic field involved here not do the same to our ele
by pyre 12y ago
> Carrington storm of 1859
Isn't this storm supposed to have set telegraph wires on fire? Why would the magnetic field involved here not do the same to our electric grid? Wouldn't most transformers be overloaded / damaged by the additional electricity induced on the grid?
Or is this less likely to happen everywhere? It's been a while since I studied electro-magnetism, but IIRC a magnetic field induced a current orthogonal to it's direction. Does this mean that not all transmission lines would be equally affected?
- codezero 12y agoThe telegraph network back then had very poor shielding as did other electic components. We've come a long way in 150 years. When there are ice storms in North Carolina where I grew up transformers would explode by the dozen each night but this didn't keep the power off for more than a few days. I doubt a flare would destroy transformers wholesale but even if it did we'd probably not be too bad off for long.