Faraday Cages

Hey All,

   I have a 1960's Civil Defense 5 gallon water can I have been wanting to turning into a faraday cage...I'm wanting to do this right, I've been researching this...

   For those who don't know what this Faraday cage is, I found a website which gives the best definition that I have found...

   Faraday Cage: Faraday cages shield their contents from static electric fields. An electric field is a force field surrounding a charged particle, such as an electron or proton. A Faraday cage is a hollow conductor, in which the charge remains on the external surface of the cage.

In order to understand how Faraday cages work, you need a basic understanding of how electricity operates in conductors. The process is simple: Metal objects, such as an aluminum mesh, are conductors, and have electrons (negatively charged particles) that move around in them. When no electrical charge is present, the conductor has roughly the same number of commingling positive and negative particles.

If an external object with an electrical charge approaches the conductor, the positive and negative particles separate. Electrons with a charge opposite that of the external charge are drawn to that external object. Electrons with the same charge as the external object are repelled and move away from that object. This redistribution of charges is called electrostatic induction.

With the external charged object present, the positive and negative particles wind up on opposite sides of the conductor. The result is an opposing electric field that cancels out the field of the external object's charge inside the metal conductor. The net electric charge inside the aluminum mesh, then, is zero.

And here's the real kicker. Although there's no charge inside the conductor, the opposing electric field does have an important effect-- it shields the interior from exterior static electric charges and also from electromagnetic radiation, like radio waves and microwaves. Therein lies the true value of Faraday cages.

The effectiveness of this shielding varies depending on the cage's construction. Variations in the conductivity of different metals, such as copper or aluminum, affect the cage's function. The size of the holes in the screen or mesh also changes the cage's capabilities and can be adjusted depending on the frequency and wavelength of the electromagnetic radiation you want to exclude from the interior of the cage.

Faraday cages sometimes go by other names. They can be called Faraday shields, RF (radio frequency) cages, or EMF (electromotive force) cages.

People use Faraday cages for a wide array of purposes -- sometimes in esoteric lab settings, other times in common products. Your car, for example, is basically a Faraday cage. It's the cage's effect, not the rubber tires, that protects you in case of a nearby lightning strike.

A lot of buildings act as Faraday cages, too, if only by accident. With their plaster or concrete walls strewn with metal rebar or wire mesh, they often wreak havoc with wireless Internet networks and cellphone signals.

But the shielding effect most often benefits humankind. Microwave ovens reverse the effect, trapping waves within a cage and quickly cooking your food. Screened TV cables help to maintain a crisp, clear image by reducing interference.

Power utility linemen often wear specially made suits that exploit the Faraday cage concept. Within these suits, the linemen can work on high-voltage power lines with a much-reduced risk of electrocution.

Governments can protect vital telecommunications equipment from lightning strikes and other electromagnetic interference by building Faraday cages around them. Science labs at universities and corporations employ advanced Faraday cages to completely exclude all external electric charges and electromagnetic radiation to create a totally neutral testing environment for all sorts of experiments and product development.

Swing by a hospital and you'll find Faraday cages in the form of MRI(magnetic resonance scanning) rooms. MRI scans rely on powerful magnetic fields to create medically useful scans of the human body. MRI rooms must be shielded to prevent stray electromagnetic fields from affecting a patient's diagnostic images.

There are plenty of political and military uses for Faraday cages, too. Politicians may opt to discuss sensitive matters only in shielded rooms that can block out eavesdropping technologies. All modern armed forces depend on electronics for communications and weapons systems, but there's a catch --these systems are vulnerable to aggressiveEMPs (electromagnetic pulses), which can be a result of a solar storm or even man-made EMP attacks. To safeguard critical systems, militaries sometimes use shielded bunkers and vehicles.

It's for this same reason that Faraday cages are a fond subject in the survivalist subculture. These people, who preach self-sufficiency and mistrust of governmental response in the face of human-caused or natural disasters, believe in shielding all important electronics using homemade Faraday cages. In the event that an apocalyptic cataclysm strikes, they'll still have their shortwave radios and other high-tech tools that could be lifesavers.

Even if you're not particularly concerned with doomsday scenarios, Faraday cages likely play a role in your life every day. These cages harness a basic principle of physics and help people all over the planet put those principles to use -- for safety, luxury, convenience and to help further evermore exciting technological advances.

   You don't need to spend millions or have a physics degree to make your own Faraday cage. On the Internet, you can find instructions for building a simple cage from common household products.

 Thanks to Google search, (NOT bing), and the website http://science.howstuffworks.com/faraday-cage.htm

   I'll be looking through Youtube for some videos on how to build a Faraday Cage so we can protect our communication equipment and our Entertainment equipment mostly during a Zombie Outbreak...We all know that if zombies begin to take over there will be someone setting off some form of EMP (Electrical Magnetic Pulse) which will fry all electronics...So building a Faraday Cage will protect our equipment...And lets not forget to place batteries in them also...They be a power source, but they do have a form of electrical charge in them, and lets face it, without batteries, some of our electronics won't be worth a shit...

   Anyways, I welcome any help for videos or websites which tell us or show us how to build a Faraday Cage...

   I'll keep looking tomorrow...It's freaking 5 in the morning and I'm tired...(LOL)