High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! In the early 1980s, a number of articles on nuclear electromagnetic pulse (EMP) in the popular press spread knowledge of the EMP phenomenon into the popular culture. EMP has been subsequently used in a wide variety of fiction and other aspects of popular culture. Typically in motion picture or electronic entertainment, the effects of an EMP are incorrectly shown as temporary. Another recurring misconception is the idea that EMP only affects active electronics — i.e. that one can "weather" an expected EMP by simply turning off all electronic devices and systems before the pulse happens. There is no assurance that this would help in the real world.