tube technology and EMP

[Paul Koning]

>>>>> "Heinz" == Heinz Wolter <h.wolter at sympatico.ca> writes:

 Heinz> wasn't there some urban-tech legend about the Americans
 Heinz> getting hold of a Cuban MIG fighter and laughing at the
 Heinz> low-tech electronics they found?  Purportedly - the Russians
 Heinz> were using tubes! ..that are claimed to be EMP proof. ...

 Heinz> Now, perhaps tubes could be EMP tolerant, but they wouldn't be
 Heinz> radiation tolerant, would they? After all, isn't that how
 Heinz> Geiger-Muller rad counter tubes work? 

G-M tubes are gas filled, and have very thin envelopes.  The basic
mechanism is that radiation ionizes the gas, and the electric field is
large enough that an avalanche results, producing a current pulse.

Vacuum tubes don't do that because there's no gas in side.  Also,
alpha particles won't go through the glass (it's much too thick).
Betas might, but so what -- those are electrons.  Gammas are photons,
they won't do a thing unless they hit an electrode, in which case you
might get some electrons, again no big deal.

      paul