Would someone mind explaining a little bit about how an NNEMP works?

The wiki page on EMPs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_pulse) talks about how nuclear EMPs knock electrons out of the upper atmosphere and that these electrons are the source of technological damage (because they act too quickly for typical surge protectors to defend against and because (i'm assuming) the massive amount of electrons involved in nuclear EMPs).

 

Why does knocking electrons out of essentially air, or low oxygen air anyway require a massive amount of energy?

It takes much energy only to cover a wide area. Local-effect EMP weapons fit in a suitcase and store energy in capacitors.

 

Surge protectors do defeat an EMP when the field is low enough that destructive voltages appear only on external lines. At few 10m, a suitcase-size EMP weapon produces a field that destroys even components within a silicon chip, so overvoltage protection would work only at 100m from the weapon.

 

More at the other thread

http://www.scienceforums.net/topic/59234-electromagnetic-pulse/page__gopid__622655#entry622655