EMP

An electromagnetic pulse generator, or EMP, is an anti-electronics weapon that mimics the intense EM radiation created by a nuclear explosion in an atmosphere. The resulting EM field couples with nearby electronics systems, inducing electrical currents and voltages, thus damaging sensitive electronic equipment.

Just before the Cylon attack, "electric pulse generators" were being transported to Caprica from Battlestar Galactica on Colonial Heavy 798 (later Colonial One), presumably to place in a planet side museum or school as a historical artifact, or for re-use on another ship (Miniseries).

As the destruction of the ship by a Cylon raid was imminent from nuclear missiles, Lee Adama activated the devices, giving the appearance that Colonial One had been destroyed by a nuclear blast. This attempt was successful, as the Cylons cut off the assault, the missiles were disabled, and Galactica's DRADIS confirmed the ship as destroyed. Colonial One's electronic systems seemed to be fully functional after the attack.

It is probable that these devices are standard equipment aboard ships such as battlestars, given Lee Adama's knowledge about the electric pulse generators. It is also probable that such devices were part of a battlestar's fighting tactics against Cylon attacks, since (at least in the first Cylon War, although not in the second), Cylons were purely mechanical and thus vulnerable to EMP attacks unless shielded from the effect. Given that a non-military craft such as Colonial One recovered very shortly after the pulse, even Colonial civilian vessels seem to be equipped with EMP-shielded electronics.

During the Fall of the Scorpian Fleet Shipyards, battlestar Pegasus gained valuable time to escape by a blind jump when the radiation from the Cylons' nuclear weapons temporarily blinded their own DRADIS.

Note

Although the technology is called "EMP" by Admiral Cain, this effect is not an electromagnetic pulse in the strictest sense by real-world Earth standards, since an EM field is only created when a nuclear detonation's gamma-ray emissions interact with the matter in an atmosphere and produce free electrons, which in turn interact with a planet's magnetic field. There are no nuclear EMPs in the vacuum of space.

The gamma radiation generated by an explosion alone can nonetheless disrupt DRADIS and wireless communications, as they rely on a form of EM radiation as well.

In the Miniseries, the EMP is shown to temporarily overload the crew's central nervous system and cause unconsciousness. However, this is scientifically incorrect, because although the human nervous system works with electrical currents, there is no metal to act as antenna for the magnetic field and induce a damaging current. The effects shown are either a writing error, or the result of some other force.