If you’ve ever done any research on the effects of an EMP, you’ve probably heard about a Faraday cage. If you’re not familiar with it, a Faraday cage is capable of blocking electromagnetic waves with a porous metal mesh. Since the metal is conductive, it disperses the energy in a way that prevents it from entering the interior of the cage. That makes it an excellent tool for protecting electronic devices from the effects of an electromagnetic pulse.
Unfortunately, Faraday cages aren’t always convenient, on account of them being heavy metal cages. However, a technology firm out of Utah known as Conductive Composites, has just invented a new material that could revolutionize the way you protect your electronics.
Conductive Composites has created a method to layer nickel on carbon to form a material that’s light and mouldable like plastic yet can disperse energy like a traditional metal cage.
‘Our materials integrate game-changing conductivity and shielding performance as part of a multifunctional materials system, while preserving the basic weight, cost, structural, environmental, and manufacturing performance advantages of composites and plastics,’ the firm says.
In fact, it’s so light, thin, and flexible, that you could apply it like wallpaper to protect an entire room. The company claims that their material can even be incorporated into paints and concrete. These attributes have the potential to make it easier and more affordable than ever before to protect all manner of electronics, big and small. Conductive Composites has actually started prototyping a few products that are essentially portable “Faraday Cases,” the smallest of which isn’t any heavier than a rolling suitcase. And as an added bonus, these products could also be used to bolster cyber security efforts.
The cases range in size from suitcase-sized units for carrying smaller digital devices to wheeled portable enclosures that can house servers—providing what is essentially an EMP-shielded portable data center. The cases and enclosures are being marketed not just to the military but to consumers, corporations, and first responders as well.
The materials used in Faraday Cases can also be used to create ultra-lightweight antennas, satellite communications reflector dishes, and hundreds of other things that currently need to be made with conductive metal. And they could be a boon to anyone trying to prevent electronic eavesdropping—be it through active wireless bugs, radio retroreflectors used by nation-state intelligence agencies, or passive surveillance through anything from Wi-FI hacking to electromagnetic signals leaking from computer cables and monitors. And in some cases, they could make it possible to create the kind of secure spaces used by government agencies to prevent eavesdropping nearly anywhere.
That’s why the media has been referring to this technology as “NSA-proof wallpaper.” It has the potential to give the average person the same anti-surveillance technology that was previously only cost-effective for governments. Someday soon, turning your house into an EMP-proof, counter-surveillance bunker, may be no more difficult nor any more expensive than a home makeover.
Awwwwwweeessssooooommmmeeeee
Now the downside: you won’t be able to make cell phone calls from inside your home.
Nor use a wifi that is outside your home.
More good.
You obviously don’t eschew the Internet, so why would it matter how you get access?
Think of it opposite way – your building or structure can now have secure intranets and wifi networks that can’t be picked up outside.
Good.
Perfect for lining the inside of movie theaters or any other space where the use of a cell phone isn’t just inappropriate but downright Rude.
Hint: External antenna.
Hint: External antenna.
Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of lining your house with a cage?
Nope. Just don’t hook-up electronics directly to it 24/7.
How about just lining a closet or small room where you store emergency electronics. Maybe line your garage so the car runs. Just a thought.
Cost?
the effectiveness of a Faraday cage is dependent upon the size of the holes in the cage and the frequency seeking to be blocked.
Very high freqs will get out of a large holed cage.
These should be tested at all practical freqs before being relied upon.
The problem with a paintable “Faraday cage” is the same as anything else done with a brush, coverage. Modern surveillance devices use the magnetic component of the electromagnetic signal to get around the blocked electric component. A Faraday cage will block any signal which has a substantially larger wavelength than any opening in it. If the paintable cage has no openings, it will be impervious to EMF signals. The problem comes in sealing the gaps between doors and windows, and the windows themselves.
How about curtains? A huge number of us live in houses with aluminum siding; already a Faraday cage, except for the windows (and roof).
Aluminum siding is difficult to bond well enough to prevent the properly polarized signal from slipping between the individual sheets of siding. Tempest would make any Faraday case look like an open window. Fortunately, Tempest used CRTs, which are extinct, but have been replaced, unfortunately, with wireless applications.
Heres another problem, anything plugged in would still be fried..
Absolutely correct. Plus what about the floors and ceilings… Problem not solved. Just another gimmick.why not aluminum coated sheetrock?
Lead based paint, just spit balling here but if the amount of lead is high enough it could in theory block the effects of an emp. Still the problem of things being plugged in and windows may be an issue. But aside from a good dose of heavy metals what could go wrong?
Buy a decent surge protector and it will easily handle an emp event
What happens when you die in such a room and the Faraday Cage traps your soul in that small tiny room? I guess you’ll have to wait for someone to open the door, if you don’t live alone that is.
IMHO you’re dealing with a completely different spectrum than that blocked by Faraday Cage technology.
Holy Crap, my ears got blisters on ’em from all the numbnut clammerin.
One only question needs to be asked to answer ALL the other ones.
WHAT’S THE NAME OF THIS wonderful COMPANY?.
TILL THEN…………… IT IS JUST VERBAL/texted EAR WAX.
If you actually ~read~ the article then you would know that the company is Conductive Composites, located in Utah.
Put a .com after the name, remove the space in the middle and you have their website.
let me know when you have a paint that I do not have to sell my soul for that will do this effectively.
Let it be soon! I will paint my home inside and out! (It needs it anyway)
Where? When? Cost?