> Recently I've been building a server room, and naturally a question of EM insulation came up. If I were to protect my servers from this, I needed to wrap the room in a grounded mesh with holes of λ in diameter. What wavelengths am I protecting against?
I used to build space radiation shields. I'll give you three answers.
What you should do:
Throw up a few sheets of metalized mylar or some aluminum foil. Make sure everything (including the foil) is electrically isolated and grounded. Be more worried about the grid more than the air. Don't let the grid kill your components, because it WILL be overloaded.
You want to be very secure:
Do the above, but be in a concrete building. Better if under ground. Idk, add some chicken-wire or other mesh? Don't ground to the grid, ground to the ground (use a grounding rod and bury it deep).
The overkill (an explanation):
Ground based radiation shields tend to be different than space based as you don't care about weight on earth. How to stop radiation? Mass. Even still, the two follow a pattern: layers of differing material. Plastics (sometimes doped with boron, titanium, or other materials) are good insulation and protect well against neutrons (not much of a worry for you unless we're talking nuclear weapons), but you'll still want some because these are layered with conductors (copper or aluminum). Conductors pick up charged particles (the majority of radiation).
There is a lot of confusion about radiation and it took me awhile to actually learn this. People will talk about attenuation distances and {alpha,beta,neutron}-cross-sections, but if we're talking about high energy particles, then a lot of this doesn't actually matter. Mass does. So don't worry about optimizing materials or any of that, just put mass in the way. Reading told me one thing but testing and simulation told me another thing. These cross-sections and attenuation depths are mostly for lower energy particles (like you'd find in a reactor). Your mass doesn't have to include any metal, but that will help because the biggest component is that you'll want some grounding. Also, use ECC memory and other such server grade components.
I used to build space radiation shields. I'll give you three answers.
What you should do:
Throw up a few sheets of metalized mylar or some aluminum foil. Make sure everything (including the foil) is electrically isolated and grounded. Be more worried about the grid more than the air. Don't let the grid kill your components, because it WILL be overloaded.
You want to be very secure:
Do the above, but be in a concrete building. Better if under ground. Idk, add some chicken-wire or other mesh? Don't ground to the grid, ground to the ground (use a grounding rod and bury it deep).
The overkill (an explanation):
Ground based radiation shields tend to be different than space based as you don't care about weight on earth. How to stop radiation? Mass. Even still, the two follow a pattern: layers of differing material. Plastics (sometimes doped with boron, titanium, or other materials) are good insulation and protect well against neutrons (not much of a worry for you unless we're talking nuclear weapons), but you'll still want some because these are layered with conductors (copper or aluminum). Conductors pick up charged particles (the majority of radiation).
There is a lot of confusion about radiation and it took me awhile to actually learn this. People will talk about attenuation distances and {alpha,beta,neutron}-cross-sections, but if we're talking about high energy particles, then a lot of this doesn't actually matter. Mass does. So don't worry about optimizing materials or any of that, just put mass in the way. Reading told me one thing but testing and simulation told me another thing. These cross-sections and attenuation depths are mostly for lower energy particles (like you'd find in a reactor). Your mass doesn't have to include any metal, but that will help because the biggest component is that you'll want some grounding. Also, use ECC memory and other such server grade components.