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Military Develops Liquid Body Armor
kai5263499 writes "Military.com has an article about a new liquid body armor the U.S. Army Research Laboratory has developed. According to Dr. Eric Wetzel, the project coordinator: 'The key component of liquid armor is a shear thickening fluid. STF is composed of hard particles suspended in a liquid. The liquid, polyethylene glycol, is non-toxic, and can withstand a wide range of temperatures. Hard, nano-particles of silica are the other components of STF. This combination of flowable and hard components results in a material with unusual properties'."
- Man in liquid armor
walking down the lab hallway.
- Man
in liquid armor enduring heat.
- Liquid
armor on half a face
Your tax dollars at work.This is joey, the lab assistant, going on a coffee run.
This test killed a few of our volunteers, but after many tries we finally worked out all the kinks.
We do half the face in case the armor blinds the test subject, at least he'll have one good eye left. (Lessons learned from the "heat" test, we apply the same principal for the genitals as well.)
Like the RIAA?
The package said "Windows XP or better. Pentium Class Processor or better"... So I got a Mac with OS X
Lots of salt or huge silica gel packets.
Here is a picture of a soldier wearing some
In the next james bond movie they will use this stuff in breast implants to make SUPER boobs.
Don't know about liquid armor, but I imagine if I was in an active war zone, I might fill my own armor with liquid!
Of course a private can break it, but not as fast or effectively as a lieutenant.
It's good to use your head, but not as a battering ram.
Don't tell the military! They'll really be annoyed they wasted all that money when they could have just used cornstarch.
"Sarge! I gotta crap bad, but I can't!"
:)
"dont panic son, we're into combat soon, oh, and you're on point"
"phhhrrrrrrrrp"
Does this non-toxie liquid stuff mean that if I were to drink it, I would be bulletproof? Wicked!
Any chemist worth his salt would be able to answer that.
...Silly Putty , but presumably it's hard to impregnate Kevlar with it.
I really don't want to know how this works.
All the Snowcrash quotes left out the best part about the armor: "A bullet will bounce off its arachno-fiber weave like a wren hitting a patio door." Probably not applicable, but damn I love that line... I'm still laughing about it years later.
... but excess perspiration will waft through it like a breeze through a freshly napalmed forest."
But wait -- there's more! -- the really best part of the Snow Crash quote is:
"
Stephenson may have his faults, but he's got the gift for cool similes.
-kgj
-kgj
Yeah! We can be safe AND more stylin' than fifty cent!
yes I have - at school (years back) we had a term where we were taught 'home economics' (as it was called back then). I learned how to use a sewing machine, and how to cook rice. Can't remember anything else though, but it's good to know that the taxpayers money wasn't entirely wasted.
/. to back me up. Oh yeah, I remember, asserting their post-feminist privileges and status :)
You have a foot pedal where you can change the speed. you can make the needle rattle along pulling the fabric out of your fingers (well... oops, ow, ow, scissors needed here), or really, really, really slowly - generally used for the tricky bits (i.e. doing straight lines for me).
Now, where are the girls on
You'll just have to go on a sewing machine for yourself. Let us know how you get on.
No wonder why both of them taste like absolute shit.
"Without warning, I would then move the bowl quickly, like I was going to completely douche someone with it."
Sounds like you got the instructions wrong. How to Use a Douche Bag.
You may take the steel helmet, but i'll go for the Mithril every time.
Stylish, light and very, very expensive(Have you priced it lately? it's out of this world).
Why, yes, I AM a Pagan Libertarian.
After all, liquid courage has been a part of the military since the beginning of time.
"Prepare for the worst - hope for the best."
Or maybe it was a press release?
There are options that don't come from the receivers in your tinfoil hat.
-Zipwow
I don't know which is more depressing, that 2/3 didn't care enough to vote, or that 1/2 of those that did are crazy.
" I would swirl it around and show everyone how liquid it was. Without warning, I would then move the bowl quickly, like I was going to completely douche someone with it. The solution would thicken, and stay in the bowl
Wow, these demonstrations sound very up close and intimate.
- "Hear that?! The percolations are imminent! Cease your ingress!"
"We would first like to put this material in a soldier's sleeves and pants..."
So the hookers of the future will ask soldiers, "Is that shear-thickening liquid armor in your pants, or are you just glad to see me?"
Not for the next decade at least. Even though troops and materiel have been crossing the Atlantic fairly regularly for the past half-century now, most of that has been one-way in nature and I don't see European navies able to try it out in the other direction any time soon.
No one here in Europe wants to conquer the US. We're happy when we're able to defend ourselves against your mad cow disease ridden president. That's enough. No empire for us.
Bullets.
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
> There's an old trick with a paper towel tube, some salt, and wax paper.
There's an older trick which has been known for thousands of years.
The Go'ald (Egyptian Gods to our ancestors) employ a personal defence shield. This shield is resistant to high-energy weapons, such as a Zatnikatel, staff weapon, or bullets. Yet a weapon with lower kinetic energy, such as a hand-thrown knife, can pass through the shield unmolested.
Do daemons dream of electric sleep()?
So... what you're saying is... the slow blade penetrates the shield?
Also sounds rather like the Non-Newtonian Fluids experiment that they did in Brainiac (a satellite tv show in the uk which did stupid science experiments to show what happened)
:)
They filled a swimming pool with custard (cornflower based) and demonstrated that a person could walk across it as long as they kept moving, and thus impacting the surface with their feet, the moment the guy stood still he started to sink.
the show also revelled in destroying caravans, but thats beside the point.