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Ballistic Clipboard Holds Papers, Stops Bullets
Zothecula writes "Although police officers in most countries are issued bulletproof vests, they don't necessarily wear them at all times — would you want to heave one of those things around for an entire shift? What they do often carry, however, are clipboards. Taking the "every little bit helps" approach, Ohio's IMPACT Armor Technologies has put two and two together, and come up with something that should actually offer some protection — a Ballistic Clipboard."
And it stops bullets, which means it can probably stop rock too.
But what about scissors?
"Who is the Journal of Quantum Physics going to believe?" --Stephen Hawking
This is the second article I've seen recently about a product that has been on Thinkgeek.com for a while. First the caffeinated jerky and now this. The one on Thinkgeek seems to be different but the concept is the same, holds papers and stops bullets. It seems the Thinkgeek one doesn't stop .357 and .44 mag though.
What's your point? Tiny piece of metal travelling through body shredding internal organs vs. large surface area of clipboard leaving some bruising. I know which one I'd prefer.
Spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, and stupid comments are intentional.
Momentum is, indeed, a problem(yes, you will get some exciting bruises and/or broken bones); but blunt trauma over a fairly large area is more of a "oh Fuck is that going to hurt in the morning" problem, while a bullet hit somewhere specific is a trifle more serious...
It's worse, IMO: a blog copied from a blog copied from a blog copied from a press release. The web is turning into nothing but content farms.
It doesn't mean much now, it's built for the future.
Once more proof that there is a real solution to every imaginary problem.
As we have watched violent crime rates plummet, it makes perfect sense to be thinking about how to protect the ever increasing number of police on the streets, from all of the violent crime that would have endangered them 25 years ago when violent crime was a really serious issue, and the crack wars had bullets flying in the cities.
Yes, yet another brilliant solution to a totally nonexistent problem. Now that we have a police force that primarily goes around directing traffic on details, pulling people over for the most minor infractions of the letter of the driving rules, and spending copious amounts of time sitting by the side of the road gabbing on their cell phones, or texting (the most common activities that I see cops working diligently at), its clear that we need such devices to protect them from the nearly infinite numbers of bullets which are not flying towards them.
"I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
...where this would have come in handy. Some of my coworkers are, um, grumpy.
it's also 2/3 the weight with a higher rating. i'ts also 3 times the price..
'...if only "Jumping to a Conclusion" was an event in the Olympics.'
If someone takes a shot at you, how likely is it that you'll be able to hold on to that clipboard in a position where it actually protects something? Better than just dropping the clipboard and running/diving for the nearest cover, exit or whatnot. The only way I can see you manage to keep this in a reasonable position is if you're standing still, in which case you'll look like Adam with the fig leaf because it's hardly a riot shield. What's next, a bullet proof donut box?
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
not even Cat like reflex's will help you since most handgun murders are within 5 meters. So with a 9mm traveling at 335mps you have about 2msec to get the clipboard into the bullet path and here is a hint, no ones limbs can move that fast. This wont help you against a pro since they will simply pop you in the melon from behind and you will never even know it happened. But hey if it makes you sleep better at night.
True, but you figure when you're reading from a clipboard you're holding it around your center mass... which is where (A) most people aim for and (B) statistically the place you'd get shot since that's where so much of your mass is anyway.
So if you're a cop on a call standing outside his/her squad-car reading a warrant, and some wacko decides to take a pot-shot at you from his house, there's at least a *chance* it will be in the way already..
I'm not saying a great chance, and if you're serving a warrant you should probably wear a vest anyway.
A typical rifle will fire a 0.0042 kg bullet at a speed of 965 m/s. The clipboard weighs 0.907 kg (more if it has paper on it, obviously). Assuming an elastic collision, conservation of momentum means that the clipboard will be travelling at a little under 4.5m/s immediately after impact (in the real world, it will be less). If it's held in your hands and are not completely limp wristed, then by the time it impacts with your face it will have significantly less kinetic energy than if someone took the clipboard and hit you in the face with it. Clipboards are very easy to obtain, yet are rarely used as offensive weapons, so I presume that this wouldn't hurt very much...
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However, Moments come into play too. With your wrist as the fulcrum, hitting the middle or far edge of the clipboard is still going to send it some distance back towards you. If it doesn't cause bruising to the impact site, it's probably going to sprain your wrist.
all preferable to a bullet in the gullet.
It pays to be obvious, especially if you have a reputation for being subtle.
Oh, come on! Using actual physics and common sense is just HARSH, people are trying to have a good bashing over completely non-realistic fears here!
Shame on you, next time leave any common sense back home when you're venturing to ./
You can make the comparison even simpler. Stopping a bullet with the clipboard takes just as much energy as resisting the recoil from the gun you fired with, so with a steady grip on the clipboard you can take the bullet with no problem.
Possible next-gen products depending on the success of the clipboard in the market:
1. Stickers for the clipboard: the word SHOOT on a green background, DON'T SHOOT on red, or the alternative white diagonal slash on top of the word SHOOT, each to be stuck on the appropriate clipboards, of course.
2. Bullet shaped pens
3. Angry bulletproof clipboards
WARNING: Smartphones have side effects--most of them undocumented.
Is this really worth it? It covers about 25% of the front torso (and 0% of the back) assuming it's held perfectly vertical and not tipped over horizontally for reading. So there's still a 75% chance of getting shot in the torso (or a 89% chance if you include the possibility of being shot in the back).
In comparison, a bullet proof vest gives nearly 100% coverage of the torso and back.
If a cop is worried enough about being shot that he wants to carry this shield, why doesn't he just wear a vest and get much better protection (yes, I know a vest is heavy and uncomfortable, but getting shot is uncomfortable too)? Or carry a much bigger shield (with a notepad mount on the back) to give better protection?
Sounds like it's just a way to get police departments to spend $150 on a clipboard instead of $4. I'm all for spending money to enhance safety, but this sounds like it's just going to provide a false sense of security and perhaps make it less likely that a cop will wear his vest since he has this clipboad.
And, if you are holding your clipboard at an approximate 45 degree angle while writing a ticket when someone suddenly pulls a gun on you and shoots, it will probably deflect the bullet down in a perfect angle to blow off your privates. Either way, a really bad day.
Nevermore.