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Comment by tbrownaw | Hacker News Reader

I wouldn't think that most sensitive electronics is big enough to really be affected, you need a closed circuit that encloses a significant area. For the telegraph (and modern electrical grid) that would be the height that the wires are strung at times the length of the wires. Anything that fits in your home is probably safe, unless your network cables have shielding that's grounded at both ends with no series resistance or something.

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The electrical disturbances don't need to be introduced into the electronics directly though - if the flare induced enough disturbance into the national grid, then all sorts of strange induced currents could appear on your mains voltage, and wreak havoc with inadequately filtered power supplies.

We rely on mains power to arrive at a nice even 50-60Hz, with the voltage varying a few percent. Sensitive electronics are designed to filter out this low frequency, but higher frequencies may well pass through into other circuits that weren't designed for it, with unknown consequences.

It'd likely fry transformers before they started detonating things in your home, though. The induced current on the path from the transformer to your house couldn't be that big.

Still, it's an interesting thought. With how fragile the power infrastructure is in North America, it could cause some serious problems.

In 1989 the Quebec province power grid was brought down for some hours following important solar activity. Like you said for consumers it was simply a black out. As for the power infrastructure I think they made important changes to make it more resistant (in Quebec), but I don't have more details.

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