At 12:42 PM 2/14/2003 -0500, PhotoRoy6@aol.com wrote:
Hard Drives are stored magnetically.<< I don't think the level of radiation produced by a dirty bomb is likely to have a significant effect on any photography. >> I find that hard to believe. Isn't most of the data stored as charged particles on hard drives and on removeable media except for CD? Radiation in a large enough dose to effect humans should also effect hard drives and portable media.
Flash Memory (CF, Smart Media, etc.) are stored with electrical charges
CD's are stored optically.
CD-Rs and CD-RWs are stored magneto-optically.
A Dirty bomb would not affect any of these. The amount of radiation would be insignificant to really damage the media. Alpha and Beta particles probably would not penetrate the protective surfaces. Gamma Rays of course would penetrate anything short of lead housing, however Gamma Rays would have to be in a very high dose to damage the media and if that dose is that high, your not going to care any way.
I think where there may be some confusion is that a dirty bomb spreads radioactive (or some other agent) material over a wide area. It is not a nuclear explosion. The Electro-magnetic pulse from a nuke will do quite nasty things to electo-magnetic devices in the blast range, but as its been said, if its in the blast radius, its likely not going to be useable any way. Dirty Bombs do not have an EMP.
Rob
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Rob Miracle
Photographic Miracles
203 Carpenter Brook Dr.
Cary, NC 27519
http://www.photo-miracles.com
