Slashdot Mirror
Bomb-Proof Wallpaper Developed
MikeChino writes "Working in partnership with the US Army Corp of Engineers, Berry Plastics has rolled out a new breed of bomb-proof wallpaper. Dubbed the X-Flex Blast Protection System, the wallpaper is so effective that a single layer can keep a wrecking ball from smashing through a brick wall, and a double layer can stop blunt objects (i.e. a flying 2×4) from knocking down drywall. According to its designers, covering an entire room takes less than an hour."
Rhino liner works great
It is meant to be installed with anchors. It would remain stuck to the wall and stop shrapnel fine without them, but when the wall bows, the tape would bow with it, causing a collapse. The anchors make the tape provide tension that keeps the wall up. Here's a video about the stuff that will clarify.
This seems to be a common misconception, probably due to it being taught badly in schools. Taking an aeroplane as a specific example since this is the most common example of lift. You will find that the Bernoulli effect (the lift generated by a pressure difference above and below the wing) is not the main reason why planes fly (although the effect does exist, it is just not a large enough force to keep a plane up).
What demonstrate this most clearly are symmetrical winged aeroplanes which are things like stunt planes which often fly upside down. It should be evident from the fact the wing is symmetrical that the common explanation of lower pressure above because air goes around a curve making it go faster has zero effect here.
If you have paid attention carefully when flying you may have noticed that a plane does not fly completely flat most of the time. There is a small angle between the planes wings and the direction of travel. Because air tends to follow the surface of the wing (sometimes called the Coanda effect) this means that the air gets deflected downwards by the wing. If the air accelerates down then by Newton's laws there is an equal and opposite force upwards on the plane generating lift so it can then fly.
I have not read anything about how houses are affected but I would imagine it would be a similar effect with the roof deflecting air causing a force.
Um, you might want to check your history again. The longbow was the weapon that made plate body armor obsolete.
Actually it wasn't. Plate armor was widely used in Europe after the Battle of Agincourt in 1415; arguably it gained in popularity.
It was very difficult to pierce plate with a longbow. The English victory at Agincourt is more due to the terrain than anything else; arguably plalte became even more popular after Agincourt, precisely because it offered reasonable protection against arrows. (Protecting horses etc. was another matter.) The crossbow did a much better job against plate armor. It delivered more kinetic energy, and it took much less time to train a crossbowman than a longbowman. Firearms did the rest in the 15th and 16 century. The single most driving factor, however, was cost - plate armor was too expensive to make and maintain, and if you can hire a whole squad of Landsknechts (arquebusiers, what have you) for the same money it takes to have plate armor made for yourself, the arquebusiers win. At that point, however, longbows had already been obsolete for more than a century.
As a state gets corrupt, its laws multiply; the most corrupt states have the most numerous laws. (Tacitus, Annales 3:27)
Yep, according to "Time team" their steel boots got stuck in the mud at Agincourt (like gum boots do), the English ranks were mostly wearing rags as shoes and could move more freely. Longbows were the WMD of the middle ages, especially when you had 10K archers all of whom could fire fast enought to keep 3 arrows in the air at once. Such a volley of arrows flying through the air is said to make a roar that could be heard for miles. As to wether they were effective against armour apparently that depended on what type of metal the amour and arrow heads were made of.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.