Comment by ggm
15 hours ago
This would not have been kind to any RF/EMF systems, be they GEO, LEO or terrestrial.
We'd have been walking around marvelling at st elmo's fire coming off any point-contact junction between metal or exposed metal structure, with the most fantastic skies at night.
On the other hand, would allergy sufferers be marvelling at the removal of all the dust and pollen? This would be like the outdoors becoming a giant anti-static dust remover.
Primitive man wakes up, discovers can breathe through both nostrils...
Damn, you took me from “hope that doesn’t happen again in my lifetime” to “oh Jesus please let that happen tomorrow” in just a few words.
I spent my whole life only breathing through half a nostril on a good day. About 10 years ago I got surgery and Sublingual Immunotherapy drops, and the results have been life changing.
I sleep better, my mind is clearer, I feel like an entirely new person. I am not exaggerating when I say that I still occasionally think about how nice it is to be able to breathe clearly.
I was recently on cortisone for 3 months due to another condition and whoa I didn't remember how cool life was without a perpetual running nose.
Flonase (fluticasone) has been a life changer. I have taken for granted how valuable breathing is in terms of speech, let alone sleep and general fatigue.
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Oxygen is a hell of a drug.
I use nose strips, and I'm addicted now too.
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What specific surgery and what specific drops?
How would this effect computers and everyday electrical devices? If we detected something like this heading towards us would we have to turn everything off for the day/week? That's just not possible though is it, can't just turn off nuclear power plants for the day.
There won't be any effect.
Solar flares do NOT affect the devices on the ground. All the fast-moving charged particles are completely absorbed in the upper atmosphere. And to give you some perspective, the most energetic flares can produce 10^-3 W/m^2 flux at the Earth's orbit.
The flares do affect the geomagnetic field. And a changing magnetic field induces current, but it becomes non-negligible only for very long conductors. So long-distance power transmission lines might suddenly become biased with a persistent DC voltage, and some long optical cables might start experiencing over/undervoltage problems with amplifiers.
But locally? You won't see anything unusual.
> But locally? You won't see anything unusual.
Not necessarily?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-event_upset
Some Miyake events are also thought have lasted a year or longer. I think there could be a very bad time if an event like this lasted a year?
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They won't affect your phone or laptop, but transformers along the longer ranges of the grid are unprotected.
An X-class flare won't do anything. But in the size of the article? Localised temporary blackouts would be entirely unsurprising.
Well there you go then, a little dull but probably for the best.
The panic about these is way out of proportion with the real risks. Modern systems have all sorts of over-voltage protection, and we no longer use "telegraph wires" directly connected to vulnerable electronics like speakers and amplifiers.
All modern telecommunications are over fibre or radio links.
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> would allergy sufferers be marvelling at the removal of all the dust and pollen? This would be like the outdoors becoming a giant anti-static dust remover
How do solar flares render pollen groundborne?
How did research on the solar event find a layer deposited in what is undoubtedly surface not upper atmosphere?
> How did research on the solar event find a layer deposited in what is undoubtedly surface not upper atmosphere?
FTFA: "Solar particle storms can greatly enhance the normal production of cosmogenic isotopes like radiocarbon (14C) in the atmosphere by galactic cosmic rays. Such enhanced production, preserved in annual tree rings, serves as a clear cosmic timestamp making possible absolute dating of tree samples."
I recall reading about some link between respiratory effectiveness and human development.
No idea how valid that research might have been. In retrospect, it almost borders on phrenology.
>Primitive man wakes up, discovers can breathe through both nostrils...
Not exactly both though: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasal_cycle
You're overestimating the effects. They would have been imperceptible on the ground, except for the stunning aurorae.
Nature's way of saying sorry for the EMP apocalypse
I feel like primitive man had no problems breathing through both nostrils anyway.
https://www.discovermagazine.com/health/allergies-are-common...
The ones that had - died as small kids.
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