You are enjoying a night of relaxation, catching
up on the Infographics Show videos you missed during the busy work week. Suddenly, the
screen goes black, the lights go out, and the air conditioner turns off. “What’s
going on?” you say into the darkness. You stumble to the window and look outside. There
are no lights coming from any of the houses in your neighborhood. The glow of the nearby
city has been extinguished. The electricity has gone out around the world; in the next 60
minutes, there will be chaos, panic, and death. According to a former director
of the CIA, Robert James Woolsey, 90% of humans could die in the United States
if the electricity were to completely go out. This is a staggering statistic, which puts
the death toll at around 297 million people in the U.S. alone. So, what would happen in the
first 60 minutes of all electricity going out that could lead to such a terrible
catastrophe? Let’s find out. The power goes out: There are two sides to
this scenario. Half the world would be in daytime and the other half would in night
when the electricity goes out. The moment this disastrous event happens, the Earth
goes silent. There is no more humming of lightbulbs or the buzzing of radiators. No one
knows that the world is about to fall apart, while an eerily silence envelopes
the planet. The world keeps spinning, but in the next 60 minutes, every part
of society will come crashing down. 1 minute after all electricity goes out: On
the daytime side of the Earth, the effects of the electricity going out are not immediately
noticeable for many. People walking outside or sitting at home with their shades open have no
idea that things are about to get really crazy. Others may be driving down the road and don’t
realize that the power has gone out until they come to a stoplight. They slam on the breaks as
two cars barrel through the intersection and slam into each other. Pedestrians crossing the street
are hit by vehicles as no one knows when to go or when to stop. Just seconds
after the electricity goes out, accidents happen worldwide, leading
to countless deaths and injuries. Although there will also be accidents
on the night side of Earth, things are slightly calmer. Anyone who is awake is using
artificial light to see in the dark. Suddenly every reading and night light on the planet goes
out. People experience darkness in a way they have never done before. Clocks stop ticking, and fans
stop spinning. Those who are asleep likely won’t wake up during the first 60 minutes of a global
blackout. In fact, without electricity to make their alarms go off, they might enjoy one
of the best nights of sleep of their life. 5 minutes after all electricity
goes out: All across the planet, vehicles that are powered by electricity
have rolled to a stop. This includes public transportation like trains and electric buses.
People in major metropolitan areas are stuck deep underground if they were riding the subway
at the time that the global blackout occurred. This means hundreds of thousands of
people are prying open the doors of public transportation vehicles to escape
the pitch-black depths of subway tunnels. Since the trains run on electric tracks and the
emergency lights are likely directly tied into the grid, the people in the tunnels need to feel
their way blindly out of the dark or use their cellphones to illuminate the way. Everyone above
ground starts to make their way down dark streets and back to their homes to find out what is going
on. They pass shops that have gone completely dark. Trucks with flashing yellow lights drive by
as emergency crews are sent out to figure out what is causing the blackout. They are startled to find
that there is no trace of electricity anywhere. All phone lines are down along with
cable, internet, and televisions. Every single form of communication we rely
on is powered by electricity. Even if you had a battery-powered radio, you wouldn’t be
able to pick up any signals because the radio stations require electricity to broadcast.
Maybe a few stations have backup generators, but they are still trying to gather
information about what is going on before they start their doomsday broadcast.
Five minutes after all electricity goes out, panic starts to mount, and there are no
clear answers as to what’s happening. During this initial period of darkness,
the elderly are going to struggle the most. They will be unable to reach any help by phone
or by text. If they use an elevator system in their home to get from one floor to the
other, they will be stuck on whichever floor they are currently on. Unfortunately,
if they are on the top floor of their home, there is no hope of getting down and seeking out
help. Unless a relative thinks to check on them, the elderly will be pretty much stuck where they
are for the duration of the global blackout. People who live in high-rise buildings run
into the same issue. The few unfortunate people who are in elevators high above the
lobby are now stuck there indefinitely. As they ascended to reach their floor and the
electricity went out, there was a sudden jerk, and slight drop as the engine coiling the wire
stopped spinning. Luckily most elevators are required to have a backup braking system that
engages in emergency situations. Therefore, most elevators wouldn’t plummet
to the ground when power is lost. Unfortunately, this is not the case everywhere
in the world. Elevators in cities that use older systems or buildings that skimped on safety
procedures hurtle towards the ground. Depending on how high the elevator is when the electricity
goes out, some of the metal boxes plummet downwards and smash into the floor; everything
and everyone inside is instantly crushed. People who live in tall buildings leave
their apartments and look down the hallway. They walk to the elevator to get to street
level but quickly realize that the lift will never come without electricity. They
proceed to the emergency stairwells and begin their descent. For some, this could
be tens or even a hundred stories down. By the time they get to the
bottom, the world is in chaos, and they quickly head back through the doorway
and begin the long climb up to their apartments. While panic begins to fill the streets of cities
and towns, there is a much larger problem brewing inside of hospitals. The moment that the power
went out, all of the machines keeping people in intensive care units alive stopped working.
Most hospitals have backup generators, but they can take a while to kick in even in ideal
circumstances. Since every floor of the hospital will need power, there could be malfunctions and
overloads in the emergency systems. Regardless, the emergency generators are only designed to
last for a relatively short amount of time, but with all electricity out around the world,
eventually, every hospital will go dark. Patients on ventilators will start to suffocate
unless a nurse or doctor begins manually squeezing rubber lungs. People undergoing blood
transfusions or dialysis need emergency procedures to try and filter their blood without
the aid of any machines. Heart monitors go silent, preventative scans cease, and doctors work in the
dark. Depending on the time, there could be less staff than normal in the hospital. Night shifts
tend to be understaffed; the medical professionals in hospitals around the world quickly become
overwhelmed with the patients currently in their facility and the tidal wave of new
admittance from accidents caused by the blackout. Expecting mothers who are already scared and
anxious will only receive the most basic help or could find themselves completely alone
as doctors are rushed to rooms with people who are dying from failing life support
equipment. Millions of babies will be born in the electricity-deprived world in
the first 60 minutes of the catastrophe; their cries will echo down dark hospital
hallways. Nurses will do their best to help as many women as possible deliver newborns
using nothing but the light of their cellphones. All of this will happen in hospitals around the
world within the first minutes of the electricity going out. Smaller medical facilities
may not even have backup generators. The hardest hit by the lack of electricity
will be those who are most vulnerable. And things are about to get even worse
for them and everyone else on the planet. 10 minutes after all electricity goes out:
Airports try to redirect flights. The planes themselves are unaffected by the blackout as
all of their electronics run off the engines. They can still send and receive signals, and
all of their radar and instruments are still operating. However, on the ground, control
towers are running on backup generators. They frantically call up to the aircraft in
the sky to alert them as to what’s happening. The lights on the runways have gone dark;
most of the generators only have enough juice to keep the radio tower going. They
can divert power to the landing strip lights, but it is vital that flight control
alerts the planes in the sky of the dire situation on the ground before
the emergency generators run out of fuel. One by one the aircraft are diverted to
the closest airport and safely landed. Luckily, contingency plans have been put into
place for a blackout situation at most airports. 15 minutes after all electricity goes
out: People on the night side of the planet who are awake stumble out of
their front door and onto the streets. They don’t yet know that there is no electricity
anywhere, but as they talk to their neighbors, it is clear that at least everyone in
their general vicinity has lost power. Suddenly, they all go silent. They look up at the
night sky. The Milky Way band stretches across the heavens. Awe strikes the heart of everyone
who is gazing upon the stars and galaxies as it is the first time any of them have seen the
night sky without some form of light pollution dulling the view. The longer they stare at
the sky, the more stars they see. The cosmos is beautiful and endless. For a moment, everyone
forgets that the world is about to change forever. 20 minutes after all electricity goes
out: People start to notice a funny smell. Without electricity, the sewer treatment plants
shut down and there is a backup of waste. Toilets still flush, but freshwater can’t be
distributed throughout cities and to residences that are connected to municipal water supplies.
It only takes a short time before water reserves are depleted, and all that comes out of
faucets is sputtering air or dirty liquids. This escalates the first wave of panic. People
are already uneasy because they can’t contact loved ones. It is obvious that the power is
out, but no one knows how bad it actually is. What they do know is that their
cellphones aren’t getting a signal, and no matter what they do, they
can’t receive news or information. They start taking inventory of the things
they have and the things they need. Many people start to go into survival mode as they
begin to suspect there is something very wrong. At this point, it is not just civilians
who are panicking. The heads of governments and militaries are beginning to
realize the scope of the problem. 30 minutes after all electricity goes out: Leaders
of nations across the planet scramble to try and make sense of what is transpiring. They have been
briefed that there has been a mass power outage, but no one knows why, how, or what to do
next. Governments can’t contact their allies because every form of communication is down.
Theoretically, morse code could still be used to send messages, but the ancient language of long
and short beeps has mostly become a lost art. Government officials look in old cabinets and
drawers, searching for old telegraph machines. People have now ventured out of their homes.
They drive to the nearest gas station to load up on fuel. Cars still work; their headlights
can be seen cutting through the darkness on almost every major road. However, when
the drivers finally reach the gas station, they find that their luck has run out. Although
the cars don’t require electricity to work, the gas pumps do. Frustrated, people begin
banging on the service station doors, employees hide behind the counter as the
angry mob bursts through the entrance. Other people frantically start cutting the pumps'
fuel lines, hoping that a few remaining drops will fall out as they stick the tubes into their
gas tanks. People speed off to the next station to see if they will have better luck there.
But no matter where they go, the situation isn’t any different. Gas, water, and many other
resources all need electricity to be distributed. 40 minutes after all electricity goes out:
Riots begin to break out as people loot stores and steal whatever necessities they can find.
Originally, most individuals intended to go to the store and pay for their products. But
when they realized that credit card machines were down and they couldn’t get cash out of
ATMs, they took matters into their own hands. First, it’s just basic supplies and food being
ripped off of shelves. But as the chaos grows, people start stealing things
that won’t even work anymore. Expensive computers and cell phones are
carried out of the broken windows of stores. Some people start grabbing makeshift weapons
like hammers and bats to protect themselves. The panic spreading across the
planet is about to hit critical mass, and there is nothing that law enforcement
or government officials can do to stop it. For one thing, it is almost impossible
to coordinate a task force as precincts have no way to send messages from their police
stations. Officers can contact one another via their squad car radios, but there is no central
command to unify the forces and maintain peace. Governments are starting to see the
ramifications of a global blackout. The risk to national security increases
substantially with each minute that goes by. There is no way to contact allies if help
is needed, and if a not-so-nice neighboring country can organize their military before
they can, an invasion might be imminent. The same can be said about the citizens of
a country. During this time of uncertainty, governments issue lockdowns within their borders
and ask everyone to remain in their homes. But there is no way to disseminate this message and
actually have it reach the masses. Governments mobilize as many military forces as they can and
give them one simple order: keep the peace. This will be easier said than done as people across
the world are now either in full panic mode, so scared that they’ve locked
themselves inside of their homes, or are trying to take advantage of the
situation by stealing what is not theirs. On the plus side, it is unlikely any country would
be able to launch missiles or make rash decisions during the first hour of the global blackout as
most military facilities would not have power. Interestingly, although around
90% of the population might die, this is one doomsday scenario where we
don’t have to worry about nukes being launched across the planet. However, there is
another nuclear threat looming on the horizon. Nuclear power plants have a number of
fail-safes and redundancy systems in place to prevent meltdowns. Humans have learned
from the past that a natural disaster near a nuclear power plant can lead to catastrophe,
even in the most state-of-the-art facilities. But no one could predict that all electricity
on the entire planet would go out at once. Nuclear reactors are now quickly
heating up to critical levels. Electricity is needed to circulate
water through the system to keep the fuel elements that emit radiation cool.
Without the pumps functioning properly, the reactor can’t maintain a temperature within
safe limits. Nuclear facilities across the globe are evacuated as there is now nothing to stop
the chain reaction happening in their cores. 50 minutes after all electricity goes
out: People start to notice their apartments or houses getting extremely warm or
extremely cold depending on where they live. We are so accustomed to modifying the
internal temperature of our residence that without air conditioning or heat,
people start to become very uncomfortable. People living in areas experiencing summer
will quickly realize how hot things can get without electricity. Individuals who live in
the desert are just trying to stay in the shade, so they aren’t baked by the sun.
Millions of people live in warm climates and go through everyday life
without the luxury of air conditioners, but most have some sort of fan or way to
keep cool that also requires electricity. For people who have lived their whole lives off
the grid, this is just another day for them. Although extreme heat can be unpleasant, anyone
living in a region of the world where it’s winter will have it much rougher. People start to freeze
in their homes as electricity is needed to turn on their heaters. Even if they use gas to warm
their residence, electricity is still required to kick start furnaces and adjust temperatures.
The only solution is to bundle up to keep warm or to burn things. Some will start fires in their
fireplaces if they have wood readily available. If not, they will burn anything that is
flammable to keep from freezing to death. Unfortunately, this is where things go from bad
to worse. Many people who have fireplaces don’t use them often. When this happens, flues can get
dirty, and debris can build up in the chimney. These things can catch on fire and set the entire
house ablaze. Others might have never used a fireplace before and don’t know to open the flue
to keep smoke from being pushed back into their home. There are also plenty of people who don’t
have a fireplace at all. They will still need to stay warm somehow, which means they might light
their belongings on fire in the middle of a room. Desperate times call for desperate measures,
but the lack of knowledge around making and maintaining a safe fire will lead to
countless homes going up in flames. The fires will spread to adjacent houses or
apartments as there is no way for emergency services to know when or where an inferno
breaks out. Even if they did, there would just be too many fires to extinguish in the
first 60 minutes of all electricity going out. Building after building would go up in
flames. The world would be lit up not by electricity but by wildfires started
by people just trying to stay warm. 60 minutes after all electricity goes
out: Money has become pretty useless at this point. Some people might have used
it to pay for basic supplies earlier on, others may have already started burning it for
warmth, but financial institutions are now in ruin as economies and businesses have lost
everything due to the lack of electricity. In a recent power outage in California that lasted
two days, the U.S. Department of Energy estimated that $2.5 billion dollars were lost to the
economy. This was just one state. After an hour of the entire world losing power, every economy
on the planet would pretty much be in shambles. As businessmen and bankers reassess their
ambitions in life, space agencies have begun to run into problems. Without electricity, they can’t
communicate with the International Space Station or satellites orbiting the planet. This wouldn’t
be a big deal if the blackout was only temporary, but real concern starts to mount as the minutes go
by. The electricity has been off for a full hour, and without course corrections from
space agencies around the world, the orbits of satellites begin to degrade. The Internation Space Station will be fine as
there are currently astronauts on it that can adjust accordingly. But even though the ISS could
send messages to Earth, there would be no way for space agencies to send messages back to them to
inform the astronauts of what was going on. From the space station, astronauts would observe
the planet as it was before humans started industrializing. On the night side of Earth,
it would be completely dark. There would be no cities or suburbs illuminating the continents. On
the dayside of Earth, everything would look the same. The Space Station mostly runs off of solar
power, but without resupply missions or a way to contact ground control, the astronauts will either
have to live out the rest of their days in space or risk doing their own emergency landing using
the capsule currently attached to the ISS. Days after all electricity goes out: Any food that
was refrigerated before the global blackout is beginning to rot. People make do with canned foods
and whatever they can gather from nature. Humanity has started to go back to its roots. Many, many,
people would perish as a result of the electricity going out, but there would be survivors. We have
to remember that for most of human existence, we didn’t have electricity. In fact, humans only
figured out what electricity was in the 1800s. The most crucial next step for humanity after
the first 60 minutes without electricity is to figure out what caused the blackout
and if there is any way to reverse it. If it was caused intentionally by a highly
sophisticated cyberattack, it might still be possible to reverse the damage. The only way
this cyberattack scenario could be carried out is if a group of people somehow managed to
infect every electrical grid on the planet and simultaneously cause their
virus to shut everything down. The possibility of this
happening seems highly unlikely, but there is another natural disaster
that could conceivably disrupt every power grid on the planet and plunge the
human species back to the stone age. Earth’s core is mostly made up of molten
iron and nickel. This is very important because as these melted metals swirl around
in the core, they generate a magnetic field. It is this magnetic field that protects the
planet from solar storms. Every now and then, the sun ejects high-energy particles into
space. These solar flares, also known as solar winds, can be devastating to
any electronic device in its path. When a solar flare slams into Earth’s magnetic
field, geomagnetic storms can occur. This is what causes the Aurora Borealis and Aurora Australis
near the north and south poles, respectively. However, if the solar storm is large enough, it
can cause some serious problems for the planet, such as a global EMP. The electromagnetic
pulse would overload every circuit and electronic device on Earth, causing all
electricity around the world to go out. This same thing could be done by humans if
millions of EMP bombs were detonated at the same time. However, the most powerful
EMP devices we have are nuclear bombs, so if we detonated enough of those to cause
all electricity to go out across the planet, it would also mean we’ve blown ourselves
up, so it really wouldn’t matter. What we need to learn from the first 60
minutes of all electricity going out scenario is how to be prepared if it ever does happen. You
should always have flashlights with full batteries in an easily accessible location in your house.
The key here is that the flashlight batteries still need to have power because a dead flashlight
will not help you if all electricity goes out. It is also always good to have an emergency kit
prepped and fully stocked that will provide you with everything you need if a disaster ever does
occur. There are even videos on The Infographics Show channel about what you should put in such
a survival kit. The basics are, water, food, extra batteries, and a first aid kit. It is
important to remember that if the power goes out globally, you won’t have to live in the dark
forever as the sun will still rise the next day. However, you should do your best to remain calm
and stay level-headed to make good decisions. Some survival experts recommend stocking
up on baby formula and keeping it in your survival kit because it is a good source
of nutrients. If all electricity goes out, it will also be helpful to remember
that waste build-up will be a problem. Make sure you have a way to purify water
and remove both human and nonhuman waste. If all electricity goes out around the world,
the first 60 minutes will be crucial for your survival. People will panic and make rash
decisions which means you need to be one step ahead of them. Just remember to stay away
from elevators, gas stations, and urban areas, as these places will be where
chaos breaks out the quickest. Now watch “This is How the World Ends.” Or
check out “What Would Happen After World War 3.”
