Shirts that stop bullets

ScienCentralNews ^ | 7/24/03 | Ann Marie Cunningham

[dead]

Beer does the same thing, in theory.

[bedolido]

doesn't calista flockhart wear one of those (Ally McBeal in a padded bra)

[Lazamataz]

Cool things for boys to play with.

[sourcery]

FYI

[Joe Brower]

[CWOJackson]

The Souix had these years ago.

[Iris7]

Lots of possibilities here, replacements for metal in highly stressed applications, much cheaper space flight, space tethers, beanstalks.

[Squantos]

Panties for fat girls maybe. Safer for those 9 Corona dates that effect ones cornea. Can't regret what ya can't get into.

High stress , stronger that spandex , less danger for folks pushing the press to test button on date night !

It's gotta future I believe !!!

Stay Safe !

[chaosagent]

The article says this stuff is light and flexible.

Seems to me that it might not let the bullet penetrate the fabric, but what's to keep the bullet from pushing the fabric and itself into the skin, leaving something of a wound?

I know a hit to kevlar vest can leave a whopping big bruise. And this sounds a lot more flexible.

[harpseal]

doesn't calista flockhart wear one of those (Ally McBeal in a padded bra)

Cool things for boys to play with.

True very true.

[Billthedrill]

Very cool - I NEED one. The problem with stopping bullets, though, is that all that energy has to go somewhere, and while our mental self-image may include a red "S" and bullets bouncing off our mighty chests, I'd end up flat on my butt from some neighbor kid's BB gun. But alive...

[Sloth]

Seems to me that it might not let the bullet penetrate the fabric, but what's to keep the bullet from pushing the fabric and itself into the skin, leaving something of a wound? I know a hit to kevlar vest can leave a whopping big bruise. And this sounds a lot more flexible.

That's what I was thinking. "Bulletproof" is a very misleading term if the loose fabric merely doesn't puncture, but gets pushed X inches into your torso by the bullet... though I guess extracting the bullet will be easy for the ER staff ("Nurse, yank on his shirt tail.")

The only exception I can think of is if the fabric instantaneously stiffens when stress is applied, sort of like how your selt belt locks if you jerk forward quickly. If you've ever played with a thick corn starch & water solution, it changes physical properties when pressure is applied... I've always wondered what would happen if you shot that stuff with a bullet. I hypothesize that it would harden quickly enough to shatter into fragments, then the fragments would turn back to liquid.

[Othniel]

Wasn't Iron Man's armor something like this? Flexible like cloth until Tony Stark passed current through it, then it was tough as....well...iron. Wow. Will the shirt come with a solar powered tie?

[ghost of nixon]

If they can invent fabrics that are bullet-proof, it won't be long before they invent bullets that are bullet-proof fabric-proof. Either that or someone will just burn a hole through you with their laser gun.

[LibWhacker]

Good point. I watched a show on "bulletproof" vests just the other day . . . It was on the Discovery Channel, I believe. Anyone else see it?

At any rate, they made the point that that was why bulletproof vests employ seven layers of Kevlar. In other words, three or four layers would "stop" most handgun rounds, but would still permit so much deformation of the material as to be a danger to the person wearing it.

So maybe they plan on layering this stuff, too. Ooops, there goes the "light and flexible" characteristics the article implies you'll have in bulletproof carbon-nanotube t-shirt!

[Iris7]

The problem with chasing women is what do you do after they have caught you! A high tech solution to this ancient problem!

[Atlas Sneezed]

I think the key is that the bullet flattens and loses energy before it enters, instead of fragmenting inside you.

[Consort]

Sounds like a synthetic yarn to me.